The Expansion of The Church As A Result of Persecution (8:1-12:25).

How thrilled the Apostles must have been at this stage at the progress of the church. Through the first few years of the infant church they had suffered a few minor discomforts, but they had come through those triumphantly, and the church had continued to grow and grow. Jerusalem was ‘filled with their teaching’ and the work of caring for all the true people of God was now being successfully administered.

And then came the shock waves. It was like a spiritual earthquake. It seemed that Satan was not asleep or held fully in check after all. Suddenly there was devastation among the people of God. Many were being dragged off to prison, others recognised that they had no alternative but to flee for their lives and the lives of their families, and the carefully erected administration had collapsed. The Apostles now bravely remained in Jerusalem so as to care for the few who were left, and to visit in prison those who were being held in captivity. And as they looked around at the people that they now had to cater for, and the numbers crowded in the prisons, it must have appeared as though all their dreams were in tatters. It must have seemed as though they had to begin all over again.

But in truth the situation was the very opposite, for it was now that the expansion of the church began apace. As a result of the martyrdom of Stephen the Christians, who were now established and taught in the faith, were driven out of Jerusalem in all directions in accordance with Isa 2:3. When Jesus had originally sent out His disciples He had told them that if they were not received in one town, they had to go on to the next. For there was so much work to be done that it would never be finished before the Son of Man returned (Mat 10:23). And now, in this situation, that was precisely what God was making them do. Within a few short months the Good News, which up to this point had been almost limited to a Jerusalem which must surely have been becoming Gospel saturated, would spread to all the neighbouring countries round about, and would establish a platform for reaching out to the rest of the world. And all as a result of this heart numbing catastrophe combined with the power of the Holy Spirit and the sovereign activity of God. It was the signal that Jerusalem had had its opportunity. Now it was time for the ends of the earth to know.

The sections that follow deal with the initial spread of the word, which divides neatly up into the following pattern:

a Scattered Christians preach in all directions, including Judaea and Galilee (Act 8:4).

b Philip goes to the Samaritans, followed up by Peter and John – a distinctive outreach (Act 8:5-25).

b Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Act 8:26-39).

b Philip is found at Azotus (formerly Ashdod), where passing along the coastline he preaches the Good News to all the cities, until he comes to Caesarea (Act 8:40). These cities would include Jamnia, Joppa, and Apollonia. And when he comes to Caesarea he settles down (Act 21:8). It was of mixed Jewish and Gentile population and the seat of Roman government, and presented great opportunities for evangelism.

c Saul is converted in Damascus and proclaims the Good News there (Act 9:1-26).

c Saul returns to Jerusalem and proclaims the Good News in the Hellenist synagogues at Jerusalem (Act 9:27-30).

b Peter’s ministry is successful in Lydda where he heals the lame (Act 9:32-35).

b Peter’s ministry is successful in Joppa where he raises the dead (Act 9:36-43).

b Peter goes to the Gentiles and converts Cornelius and his household, and those in Jerusalem rejoice because God is reaching out to the Gentiles – a distinctive outreach (Act 10:1 to Act 11:18).

a Scattered Christians preach successfully in Phoenicia and Cyprus to Jews only, but then in Syrian Antioch, first to Jews and then to Gentiles. The work in Antioch is confirmed by Barnabas who calls in Saul (Act 11:19-26).

Note the carefully worked out pattern, which could be even more particularised. It consists of a general description followed by three ministries of Philip, commencing with the ministry to the Samaritans (a new distinctive outreach), then central is Paul’s conversion and new ministry, then come three ministries of Peter, possibly following up on Philip’s ministry in Act 8:40, finalising in Peter’s ministry to Gentiles (a new distinctive outreach), and then another general description.

This is all then followed by a description of events in and around Jerusalem, while the word of God grew and multiplied (Act 11:27 to Act 12:25).

The complexity of the construction of Acts, and the warning lest we too glibly divide it up into our patterns comes out in that the above analysis overlaps into what might be seen as two sections ending in their summaries (see introduction to chapter 1). Luke has a number of strands going at the same time. We do him an injustice not to recognise the fact.

A further interesting part of the pattern is found in the descriptions of the conversion of three vital figures, the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus, and Cornelius the Centurion. Note the huge contrast, the powerful minister of state, the devoted Pharisee and student of Gamaliel, and the officer in the army of occupation, and yet all in their own way men who were earnestly seeking righteousness and truth. In each case Christian men are directed to go to them. In each case those to be converted are chosen men. In each case a vision or equivalent is involved. In each case they are led to Christ by God’s chosen instrument. In each case they are baptised. And yet the differences are many too. They are not just reproductions. But they do bring out that God is at work not only on multitudes, but on individuals, as he expands the Kingly Rule of God.

The Consequences of the Death of Stephen.

The result of the death of Stephen was that Christians had to flee from Jerusalem, and this certainly included Philip, one of the Hellenists appointed along with Stephen. Indeed the six who remained of the original seven were probably targeted as known associates of Stephen. It must be seen as quite probable that the Hellenistic Christian Jews were the most prominent target of the persecution, a persecution probably largely pursued by their antagonists in the Hellenistic synagogues (compare Act 9:29), as well as especially by Saul, who was himself one of the Hellenists, although a very Hebrew one. They wanted to demonstrate to their Hebrew brethren that they too were true Jews (the Hellenists who had come to live in Jerusalem, and who had not already been converted, would tend to be those most fanatically gripped by Jewishness).

But behind the flight of the people of God was God Himself. Without that flight the impetus to spread the Good News widely would have been absent. They had felt it necessary to concentrate mainly on Jerusalem, but it was now His purpose that the word might spread far beyond the walls of Jerusalem. He was fulfilling the prophecy of Isa 2:3, ‘Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem’.

This was taking place some years after the crucifixion during which time the church had become well established in Jerusalem. This is evident from the fact that the events of the previous chapters of Acts require such a length of time for their fulfilment. How far the Apostles were involved in the persecution we do not know, although we do know that they remained in Jerusalem (Act 8:1). Perhaps they were seen as still under the protection of the Sanhedrin’s edict that they be left alone. And perhaps their known loyalty to the Temple, (for they met there regularly), marked them off as giving full respect to the Temple and as not following the heresy of Stephen. It might have been argued that, while they were known Messianists, they had never been heard to speak against the Temple and the Law. They may have been seen as dutiful in following their religious responsibilities so that the Pharisees had nothing against them, for there were many priests and Christian Pharisees among their number who would maintain their Jewishness. Thus they may have been left alone. With their reputations it is certainly difficult to see how the Apostles could have remained hidden. They were still no doubt performing signs and wonders, and people would still be seeking them out. But there was still a strong sense of Jewishness among the early Judaistic church and that probably helped them. (Consider how the Apostles are later called to task by Hebrew Christians when they are thought to have erred from a Judaistic emphasis – Act 11:2).

But having said all that danger had to lurk for them. While the persecution may have majored on the Hellenistic Christians, the Hebrew Christians would be drawn in by association. They certainly had no certainty that they would be spared. And the impression given is that Saul was determined to hunt down any Christians that he could find. Thus it took a great deal of courage to remain in Jerusalem. But now full of the Holy Spirit that was not something that any of the twelve Apostles lacked.

However, while devastating at the time the persecution accomplished what the passage of time had failed to accomplish, not only the spreading of the Good News, but also the gentle separating of the Jewish church from its extreme Jewishness. Christian Jews were being faced up with a choice of adherence, whether to the Jewish authorities, or to the wider church. And the persecution would help them to make up their minds. The grip of Judaism was being slowly relaxed.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Witness of Saul’s Conversion and Divine Commission ( Act 22:6-16 ; Act 26:12-18 ) In Act 9:1-22 we have the witness of Paul’s conversion and divine commission. We often find divine commissions opening the narrative material of God’ servants in the Scriptures. For example, we see in the book of Genesis that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each received their commissions at the beginning of their genealogies, which divide the book of Genesis into major divisions. We also see how Moses received his divine commission near the beginning of his story found within Exodus to Deuteronomy. Joshua received his commission in the first few verses of the book of Joshua. Also, we see that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel each received a divine commission at the beginning of their ministries. The book of Ezra opens with a divine call to rebuild the Temple and the book of Nehemiah begins with a call to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which callings Ezra and Nehemiah answered. In the New Testament, we find Paul the apostle receiving his divine commission in Act 9:1-22 at the beginning of the lengthy section on Paul’s life and ministry.

Each of these divine callings can be found within God’s original commission to Adam in the story of Creation, which was to be fruitful and multiply; for these men were called to bring about the multiplication of godly seeds. The patriarchs were called to multiply and produce a nation of righteousness. Moses was called to bring Israel out of bondage, but missed his calling to bring them into the Promised Land. Joshua was called to bring them in to the land. Esther was called to preserve the seed of Israel as was Noah, while Ezra and Nehemiah were called to bring them back into the Promised Land. All of the judges, the kings and the prophets were called to call the children of Israel out of sin and bondage and into obedience and prosperity. They were all called to bring God’s children out of bondage and destruction and into God’s blessings and multiplication. The stories in the Old Testament show us that some of these men fulfilled their divine commission while others either fell short through disobedience or were too wicked to hear their calling from God.

One reason why these prophets received such a mighty visitation is understood in a comment by Kenneth Hagin, who said that when the Lord gives us a vision or a word for the future, it often precedes a trial, and is used to anchor our soul and take us through the trial. [158] If we look at the lives of the three Major Prophets, this is exactly what we see. These three men faced enormous trials and objections during their ministries. Their divine commissions certain were the anchor of their souls as it gave them strength and assurance that they were in God’s will despite their difficulties. We see such dramatic encounters in the lives of Moses and Saul of Tarsus, as God gave them their divine commissions for a work that was difficult and even cost them their lives. Paul’s divine visitation served as an anchor for his soul throughout his life. In fact, he will often refer back to this event (Act 22:1-21, Act 26:1-23).

[158] Kenneth Hagin, Following God’s Plan For Your Life (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1993, 1994), 118.

Contrasting Paul’s Two Commissions before and after Conversion It is interesting to note how God took a man on the road to Damascus with a decree from the high priests in Jerusalem to put Christians in bondage, saved him, and sent him to Rome with a divine decree to give Christians freedom in their worship.

My Grandfather’s Conversion My mother tells me that when she was seven years old, around 1941, that her father experienced a similar event to Saul of Tarsus. My grandfather was making his way to work one morning on his bicycle towards Lynn Haven. He was on highway 390 near Mill Bayou when a bright light shown about him. Out of the light a voice told him to throw away his cigarettes. With this experience he was gloriously saved. My mother saw such a change in his life that she also gave her life to Jesus Christ at this time.

God Speaks from Heaven to Men – The voice of God the Father spoke from Heaven to mankind on a number of occasions. God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar when he took his mind from him for a season (Dan 4:31). God spoke from Heaven at the water baptism of His Son Jesus Christ (Mat 3:17, Mar 1:11, Luk 3:22). God spoke to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat 17:5, Mar 9:7, Luk 9:35-36, 2Pe 1:17-18). God spoke to Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem before His Passion (Joh 12:28-29). Jesus spoke to Paul from Heaven on the road to Damascus (Act 9:3-7).

Act 9:2 Comments – Evidently, the Roman government allowed the Jews to exercise a limited amount of jurisdiction among themselves. The religious leaders had already put Peter, John and other apostles in prison, and brought them before the Sanhedrin (Act 4:1-22; Act 5:17-41). They had stoned Stephen, the first Church martyr (Act 7:54-60). Now, the Jewish leaders were exerting a wider breath of authority in Palestine, extending to Damascus, unhindered by Roman rule.

Act 9:3 Comments – My mother tells me that her father, my grandfather, was converted in a similar way. In 1943, when she was seven years old, he was riding his bicycle on Highway 390 near the Mill Bayou bridge, about one mile from our home, when a bright light appeared to him and a voice told him to throw away his cigarettes. He, too, was a man of great anger and vulgarity. He obeyed the voice of the Lord and became a Christian. Because of such a dramatic transformation in his life, my mother followed him in the faith at the tender age of seven.

Act 9:4 Comments – Very often in Uganda I have to repeat my name several times to strangers before it becomes clear enough for them to pronounce. Saul appears to have been physically weakened in the presence of the Lord, but conscience enough to hear and respond to the Lord.

Act 9:5 “And he said, Who art thou, Lord” Comments – In Act 9:5 Paul addresses Jesus as “Lord” ( ) (G2962), which is used by the New Testament writers to refer to Jesus Christ as God, but this word can also be diminished to simply means, “master, sir.” Scholars note that Paul seems to be calling him “Master” or “sir,” not knowing Jesus’ true identity.

Act 9:5 “And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” Comments – The word “Lord” ( ) is now used by the author to denote Jesus Christ as God, the Master of the universe.

Act 9:5 “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” Word Study on “pricks” – Strong says the Greek word “pricks” ( ) (G2759) means, “a point, a sting, a goad.”

Textual Criticism The phrase “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” is not well supported in ancient Greek manuscripts, so that modern Greek texts and English translations usually delete this phrase.

ASV, “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:”

ESV, “And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

NCV, “Saul said, “Who are you, Lord?” The voice answered, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

RSV, “And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;”

Comments (Historical Background) The classical Greek and Latin writers use this phrase often enough to assume that it was, as Basil Gildersleeve suggests, an ancient proverb. [159] For example, the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar (522-443 B.C.) writes, “But he, the patient and the wise. Who to the yoke his neck applies, Lifts not, like oxen prone to feel Each casual sting, his angry heel Be my complacent temper shown, Conversing with the good alone.” ( The Second Pythian Ode 2.173-175) [160] The ancient Athenian tragedian Euripides (480-406 B.C.) writes, “Better to yield him prayer and sacrifice, Than kick against the pricks, since Dionyse, Is God, and thou but mortal.” ( The Bacchae 191) [161] The ancient Roman playwright Terence (195/185-159 B.C.) writes, “Yes, yes, it is folly kicking against the pricks.” ( Phormia 1.2.27) [162]

[159] Basil L. Gildersleeve, Pindar The Olympian and Pythian Odes (New York: American Book Company, 1885), 267.

[160] Pindar, Pindar and Anacreon, trans. C. A. Wheelwright and Thomas Bourne (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1846), 106.

[161] Euripides, The Bacchae of Euripides, trans. Gilbert Murray (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, c1904, 1920), 46.

[162] John Sargeaunt, Terance, vol. 2, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1959), 15.

Comments Within the context of Act 9:5, the word “pricks” refers to the ox-goad, which was made from a long stick with some sharp object fastened on its end, being used to poke the ox and get him to move forward in his harness to pull the cart. We can imagine Paul traveling along the Damascus road in a convoy of horses, men, and wagons, with a team of oxen being prodded along the way using an ox goad. This metaphor that Jesus uses would have immediate application to what Paul was doing to the Christian in his efforts to persecute and imprison them.

Comments Heinrich Meyer paraphrases this phrase in Act 9:5 to mean, “It is for thee a difficult undertaking.” [163]

[163] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles, trans. Paton J. Gloag, ed. William P. Dickson (New York: Funk and Wagnalis, 1884), 275.

Act 9:5 Comments The idea in Jesus’ statement that Paul was like a harnessed ox that was being prodded along the road using an ox-goad implies that God already had Paul “harnessed.” That is God was divinely intervening his Paul’s live prior to his conversion. If we look at his Roman citizenship and exposure to the Greco-Roman world by his birth in Tarsus, and his upbringing in Jewish law at the feet of Gamaliel, and his prominence among the Jewish leaders, we can see that God had prepared Paul prior to his conversion for his task as an apostle to the Gentiles and writing much of the New Testament. Therefore, Jesus tells Paul that it was difficult for him to kick against God’s plan for his life. We find this concept in Paul’s testimony to the Galatian church of being separated by God from his mother’s womb when he says, “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:” (Gal 1:13-16)

In the same way, God is at work in all of our lives prior to our conversion. He has created each one of us with unique gifts and interests and sent us into this world at His time and season. If we resist His divine calling in our lives, then we, too, are “kicking against the pricks.”

Act 9:5 Scripture References Note a parallel verse:

Act 26:14, “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

Act 9:6 Comments – Note how God gave Paul one simple instruction at first, and told him that he would receive further instruction when he obeyed the first. In a similar way, the Lord told Abraham to leave his country and family and into a country in which He would show him. When Abraham then came into the Promised Land and pitched camp in the plain of Moreh the Lord appeared unto Him a second time and told him that this was the land that he was to live and his descendents were to inherit.

God changed Paul’s directions here in this passage. God does this again in Acts 16.

Act 16:9-12, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.”

Act 9:9 Comments – Saul fasted and prayed in response to this supernatural experience because of his devotion and discipline in the Jewish faith. This was his way of seeking the Lord.

Act 9:10  And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

Act 9:10 Comments – The ABD says the Greek name is derived from the Hebrew name nan yh, “God is merciful.” [164] The Hebrew name Hananiah is found frequently in the Old Testament (1-2 Chron, Ezra, Neh, Jer, Dan).

[164] R. F. O’Toole, “Ananias,” in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, vol. 1, ed. D. N. Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 224.

Hippolytus tells us this same Ananias of Acts 9 became the bishop of the church at Damascus, saying, “Ananias, who baptized Paul, and was bishop of Damascus.” ( Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus 49: The Same Hippolytus on the Seventy Apostles 5) ( ANF 5)

Act 9:11  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

Act 9:11 Comments – The Lord spoke to me last night in a dream that the reason Ananias was sent to Saul was because he was praying (31 December 2004). When I looked up this passage I saw where the Lord placed emphasis upon Saul’s prayers. Because Saul chose to seek the Lord as a result of his vision and not reject Him, the Lord was able to work in his life by sending someone to reveal more of God’s Word to him. The Lord would not have sent someone to Saul unless his heart been open to what Ananias had to say.

Act 9:12 Comments – It is not until a man is saved that he can see the ways of God. Saul was blind as a persecutor of the Church. But now, being made blind, he begins to see the things of God.

Act 9:15 Comments – The Lord revealed to Ananias the order of Paul’s ministry in Act 9:15 when He said to him, “for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” We know from the New Testament that Paul first preached the Gospel to the Gentiles during his first three missionary journeys. He was then imprisoned in Caesarea and in Rome where he took the Gospel to kings. towards the end of his life tradition tells us that he wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, giving the children of Israel insight into the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is found nowhere else.

Act 9:16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Act 9:16 Comments – Act 9:16 tells us that Paul must suffer for Christ’s name sake. Anything that has value to us comes at a cost. Paul’s missionary life will cost him much suffering as an apostle to the Gentiles. We can read Paul’s epistle of 2 Corinthians and gain a tremendous insight as to what these sufferings were and how they glorified Christ Jesus. In this epistle he explains how these suffering were for the consolation and salvation of the churches he established (2Co 1:6). They produced endurance for many other believers by his examples. The comfort he received from God was used to comfort others so that they would endure.

Act 9:15-16 Comments Paul’s Divine Commission – Act 9:15-16 reveals Paul’s lifetime commission from the Lord Jesus Christ. He because an apostle to the Gentiles. He testified often in Jewish synagogues and in Jerusalem. He ultimately finished his course having testified to the Emperor in Rome. Paul had to fulfill this commission in order to finish his course. Note:

2Ti 4:6-7, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”

Note that God gave Moses his lifetime commission at the burning bush.

Exo 3:10, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

Note that God gave Jeremiah his lifetime commission while he was a young man.

Jer 1:4-5, “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Peter received his commission from Jesus by the Lake of Galilee.

Joh 21:15, “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.”

Act 9:17  And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Act 9:17 “Brother Saul” – Comments – Saul was saved by now. So, he was a brother in the Lord. Then he received the Holy Ghost.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Witness of Paul’s Conversion In Act 9:1-31 Luke records the conversion and early ministry of Paul the apostle. One important outcome of this event is that the wave of Jewish persecutions against the Church ceased (Act 9:31).

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. The Witness of Saul’s Conversion and Divine Commission Act 9:1-19

2. Saul’s Early Ministry in Damascus Act 9:20-25

3. Saul’s Ministry in Jerusalem Act 9:26-31

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Church’s Structure (Divine Service): Key Witnesses that Began the Spread of Gospel into Judea and Samaria While Act 2:1 to Act 5:42 gives us the testimony of the founding and growth of the Church in Jerusalem, the stoning of Stephen gave rise to the spreading of the Church to Judea and Samaria. Act 6:1 to Act 12:25 serves as the testimony of the spread of the Gospel to the regions beyond Jerusalem as a result of persecution, which was in fulfillment of Jesus’ command to the apostles at His ascension, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Act 1:8) In Act 6:1-7 the New Testament Church begins to structure itself with the office of the deacon. One of these deacons named Stephen becomes the first martyr of the Church (Act 6:8 to Act 7:1 a). As the result of a great persecution fueled by the zeal of Saul of Tarsus, the Gospel begins to spread into Judea and Samaria. Philip the evangelist takes the Gospel into Samaria and to an Ethiopian eunuch (Act 8:5-40), Saul of Tarsus is converted (Act 9:1-31), Peter takes the Gospel beyond Jerusalem to the house of a Gentile named Cornelius (Act 9:32 to Act 10:48), while Luke provides additional testimonies of Church growth to Antioch and further persecutions (Act 11:1 to Act 12:25). These testimonies emphasize the spread of the Gospel into Judea and Samaria.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Introduction: Appointment of First Deacons Act 6:1-6

2. The Witness of Stephen Act 6:7 to Act 8:4

3. The Witness of Philip the Evangelist Act 8:5-40

4. The Witness of Paul’s Conversion Act 9:1-31

5. The Witness of Peter Act 9:32 to Act 10:48

6. The Witness of Church Growth Act 11:1 to Act 12:25

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Conversion and Early Labors of Paul.

Paul’s continued enmity against the Church:

v. 1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

v. 2. and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

In marked contrast to the earnest labors of Philip in building up the Church of Christ we have here the hostile and destructive activities of Saul. With the passing of time the fire of his enmity did not abate, but was rather fanned to ever greater heat and fierceness. This state of mind had become so habitual with him that he actually breathed threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord. That was the atmosphere which he breathed, in which he lived. The threats alone were a base transgression of the Fifth Commandment, but he also actually followed them up with murder; he delivered all the disciples whom he could capture to prison and death. But his worst sin consisted in his blaspheming the name of the Lord by this opposition and persecution. Saul’s greatest delight at that time would have been to destroy both Christ and all Christendom in one day, had he been able to do so, 1Ti 1:13; Php_3:6 ; Gal 1:13; 1Co 15:9 In this frame of mind he went to the high priest and earnestly besought him for letters, credentials setting forth his authorization in the name of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. For Saul’s attention had been called to the fact that Christian congregations were being established elsewhere, and the matter gave him no rest. Damascus had a large Jewish population and was the nearest foreign city of importance. To check the spread of the Gospel in this city would be a great victory for the Jews. The Sanhedrin at that time, even under Roman government, had great power and jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. Not only could it have arrests made by its own officers, but it could also deal with cases where the death penalty was not involved. And the authorities of Damascus were not liable to hinder such activities, as long as they were confined to the Jews. It was Saul’s plan, therefore, to have his credentials addressed to all the synagogues of Damascus, in order that he might have full jurisdiction to act. Should he then find any persons, either men or women, “of this way,” addicted to this new doctrine, as he supposed, he intended to bring them to Jerusalem in bonds. Note: The hostility of the vehement enemies of Christ in our days may not be able to show itself in just this way, but they make use of the flimsiest excuses and subterfuges to persecute the Church of Christ. Even as Saul, the Pharisee, sought to establish his own righteousness over against the righteousness of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus became the most dangerous enemy of Christ, so the modern Pharisees take offense at the preaching of salvation by the blood of the crucified Christ.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Act 9:1

But for and, A.V.; breathing for breathing out, A.V.; threatening for threatenings, A.V. Threatening and slaughter. The phrase …, is rather a difficult one, and is variously explained. Schleusner takes the genitives in “threatening and slaughter” as genitives of the thing desired, “punting after threatening and slaughter” (comp. Amo 2:7). Meyer explains it “out of the threatenings and murder [in his heart] breathing hard at the disciples”an expression indicating passion. Alford, taking nearly the sense of the A.V., makes “threatenings and slaughter” to be as it were the very material of his breath, whether breathed out or breathed in. Considering that means “to breathe in,” as distinguished from , “to breathe out,” and that these two are opposed to each other in Hippocrates (see Schleusner), the A.V. breathing out cannot be justified; nor is it likely that “Luke the physician” would forget the distinction. The difficulty is to explain the genitive case of “threatenings” and “slaughter.” The high priest; probably the same person who is so described in Act 7:1 (where see note). If the year with which we are now dealing was the year A.D. 35, Caiaphas was high priest. But Alford, Lewin, Farrar, and others place Saul’s conversion in A.D. 37, when Theophilus, son of Annas or Ananus, was high priest (Chronicles Table in Alford’s ‘Proleg. to Acts’).

Act 9:2

Asked for desired, A.V.; unto for to, A.V.; any that were of the Way for any of this way, A.V.; whether men, etc., for whether they were men, etc., A.V.; to for unto, A.V. To Damascus. No special reason is given why Damascus is singled out. But it is clear from Act 9:10 and Act 9:13 that there was already a considerable number of Christian Jews at Damascus. And this, with the fact of there being a great multitude of Jews settled there, was a sufficient reason why Saul should ask for letters to each of the synagogues at Damascus, directing them to send any Christians who might be found amongst them bound to Jerusalem to be tried there before the Sanhedrim. There may have been thirty or forty synagogues at Damascus, and not less than forty thousand resident Jews. Of the Way; i.e. holding the doctrine of Christ. Thus in Act 18:25, Act 18:26, the Christian faith is spoken of as “the way of the Lord” and “the way of God.” In Act 19:9, Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14, was the term by which the faith of Christ was spoken of chiefly, perhaps, among the Jews. The term means a peculiar doctrine or sect. Its application to Christians apparently lasted only so long as Christianity was considered to be a modification or peculiar form of Judaism, and its frequent use in the Acts is therefore an evidence of the early composition of the book.

Act 9:3

It came to pass that he drew nigh unto for he came near, A.V.; shone for shined, A.V.; out of for from, A.V. and T.R.

Act 9:4

Fell upon, for fell to, A.V. Some, as Lord Lytlelton and Lewin, from the expressions, “fell to the ground,” “fell to the earth,” infer that Saul was “himself mounted, and his followers some mounted and some on foot.” And Farrar also, far other reasons, supposes that Saul and his companions rode horses or mules. The journey, he says, was nearly a hundred and fifty miles, and the roads rough, bad, and steep; and Saul was traveling as the legate or the high priest. Still it is strange that no one expression should point distinctly to the party being on horseback, which “falling to the earth,” or “ground,” certainly do not. While, on the other hand, the phrases, “Arise,” “stood speechless,” “led him by the hand,” seem rather to point to his being on foot. Lunge well compares the double invocation, Saul, Saul! with those similar ones, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Samuel, Samuel!” “Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” “Simon, Simon!” (Gen 22:11; 1Sa 3:10; Mat 23:1-39. 27; Luk 22:31).

Act 9:5

He for the Lord, A.V. and T.R. The rest of Act 9:5 in the A.V., “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” and the first part of Act 9:6, “And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him,” are omitted in the R.T. They have, in fact, no manuscript authority (Meyer; Alford); and not much patristic authority, or from versions, and are omitted by all modern editors. They seem to be taken from the parallel narratives in Act 22:8-10; Act 26:14. The proverb, “It is hard,” etc., is only found in Act 26:14 (where see note).

Act 9:6

Rise, and enter into the city for Arise, and go, etc., A.V.

Act 9:7

That journeyed for which journeyed, A.V.; the voice for a voice, A.V.; beholding for seeing, A.V. Speechless; (or rather ) is found nowhere else in the New Testament, but is not uncommon in the LXX. (e.g. Isa 56:10) and in classical Greek. Here it means speechless from terror, struck dumb. The description here given by St. Luke seems to be contradictory in two particulars to St. Paul’s own account in Act 22:9 and Act 26:14. For St. Paul’s companions are said here to have “stood speechless;” but in Act 26:14 they were “all fallen to the earth.” Here they “hear the voice,” but in Act 22:9 they “heard not the voice of him that spake.” It is obvious, however, that in such descriptions all depends upon the particular moment of the transaction described which happens to be uppermost in the mind of the speaker or writer at the time, and the particular purpose in relation to which he is giving the description. Thus at one moment the spectators might be standing dumfounded, and at the next they might be prostrate on the ground, or vice versa. Either description of their attitude would be a true one, though not true with regard to the same moment. Again, if the purpose of the speaker was to affirm that the whole company were conscious of both the vision and the sound of a voice speaking, but that only Saul saw the Divine Speaker, the description “hearing the voice, but beholding no man” would be tile natural one. Whereas, if the purpose was to express that Saul alone heard the words spoken to him by the Lord, the description of his companions,” They saw indeed the light but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me,” would be equally natural.

Act 9:8

Nothing for no man, A.V. and T.R.; and for but, A.V. Nothing ( for ). So the best manuscripts and editions The idea is, not like that in Mat 17:8 that when he opened his eyes the person seen in vision had disappeared, but simply that his eyesight was gone, “for the glory of that light,” and he could see nothing, but had to be led like a blind man (see Act 22:11).

Act 9:9

Did neither for neither did, A.V. The same reason, we may venture to think, which caused the interposition of three days’ blindness between Saul’s conversion and his baptism, led Saul himself to pass those days in a voluntary self-abasement. His sin in persecuting the Church of God and its Divine Head, his guilt in assisting at the death of God’s saints, and in rejecting the testimony to Christ’s resurrection, had been very great. These three days of blindness and of fasting were therefore a fitting preparation for the grace of forgiveness about to be so freely and fully given to him (1Ti 1:12-16). What thoughts must have passed through Saul’s mind during those three days! Before passing on, it may be well to observe that it is to this appearance to him of Jesus Christ that St. Paul undoubtedly refers when he says (1Co 9:1), “Have not I seen Jesus Christ?” and again (1Co 15:8), “Last of all, he was seen of me also,” where he puts this appearance of Jesus to himself on a par with those to Peter and James and the other apostles, which made them competent witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. And so in verse 17 of this chapter Ananias says, “The Lord Jesus which was seen by thee” ( ); and Barnabas (verse 27), when he brought Saul to the apostles, related “how he had seen the Lord in the way.” And in Act 22:14 Ananias says, “God hath appointed thee to see the Righteous One.” Moreover the description in Act 22:7 of Saul’s fellow-travelers, that they “saw no man,” implies, by contrast, that Saul did. The reticence of both St. Paul and St. Luke as to what he saw, and what was the appearance of the Lord Jesus, seems to arise from profound reverence and awe, such as St. Paul speaks of in 2Co 12:4. It may be also worth remarking how this appearance of Christ was deferred till he was quite close to Damascus, according to one tradition only a quarter of a mile from the gates, but according to Porter, whom Farrar and Lewin follow, at a distance of about ten miles, at a village called Caueab. So the intervention of the angel by which Isaac’s life was spared was not till Abraham had the knife in his hand to slay his son; and Peter’s prison doors were opened not till the very night before he was to have been brought forth to death. Faith and patience are thus strengthened, and God’s intervention is more marked. There is not the slightest trace in the narrative of what the fancy of many has suggested, that Saul’s uneasy conscience was wrought up into a paroxysm as he approached Damascus, and so prepared the way for the vision of Christ. Even Canon Farrar’s eloquent description of what he supposes to have been the thoughts which agitated Saul’s mind on his eventful journey seems hardly to rest on any solid base (see ‘Life of St. Paul,’vol. 1. Act 10:1-48.).

Act 9:10

Now for and, A.V.; and the Lord said unto him for and to him said the Lord, A.V. Behold, I am here. The regular Hebrew answer (Gen 22:1; 1Sa 3:4, 1Sa 3:6, 1Sa 3:8, etc.).

Act 9:11

To for into, A.V., named for called, A.V.; a man of Tarsus for of Tarsus, A.V. The street; , usually the narrower lanes in a town as distinguished from the , or wide streets. So Luk 14:21, “The streets and lanes of the city,” and the LXX. in Isa 15:3, couple and . Here, however, the term applies to the principal street of the city, which runs quite straight from the east to the west gate, and is a mile long. It still exists, and is called the Sultany Street; but instead of being the wide and splendid street it was in the apostolic age, a hundred feet wide, with colonnades separating the two footways on the side from the central read, and adorned with a triumphal arch, it is contracted into a narrow mean passage.

Act 9:12

He hath seen for hath seen in a vision, A.V. and T.R.; laying his hands for putting his hand, A.V. and T.R.

Act 9:13

But for then, A.V.; from many for by many, A.V.; did for hath done, A.V. Ananias’s answer shows his profound astonishment, mixed with doubt and misgiving, at the commission given to him. It shows, too, how the news of Saul’s commission had preceded him, and caused terror among the disciples at Damascus. Little did Ananias suspect that this dreaded enemy would be the channel of God’s richest blessings to his Church throughout all ages until the coming of Christ. How empty our fears often are l how ignorant are we where our chief good lies hid! But God knows. Let us trust him.

Act 9:14

Upon for on, A.V. That call upon thy name. So also Act 9:21; Rom 10:12, Rom 10:13; 1Co 1:2; and above, Act 7:59, this same phrase describes the believer who makes his prayer to the Lord Jesus and trusts in his Name for salvation.

Act 9:15

A chosen vessel (comp. Gal 2:15; Rom 9:21, Rom 9:22). To bear my name before the Gentiles (see Act 22:21; Act 26:17, Act 26:18; Rom 15:16; Gal 2:7-9, etc.) and kings (Act 25:1-27.; 26.; 2Ti 4:16, 2Ti 4:17, with reference to Nero), and the children of Israel. The Gentiles are named before the children of Israel, because St. Paul’s special call was to be the apostle of the Gentiles. But we know that even St. Paul’s practice was to preach Christ to the Jews first, in every city where there were Jews.

Act 9:16

Many for great, A.V. St. Paul’s whole life was the fulfillment of this word of Christ (see 2Co 11:23-27; 2Co 6:4-10).

Act 9:17

Departed for went his way, A.V.; laying for putting, A.V.; who appeared for that appeared, A.V.; which thou earnest for as, etc., A.V.; mayest for mightest, A.V. The laying on of hands is the medium of conveying any special grace. Here it precedes the baptism, and was the channel of restoring sight to his eyes. Doubtless he did not receive the Holy Ghost till after his baptism (see Act 2:38.)

Act 9:18

Straightway for immediately, A.V.; as it were for as it had been, A.V.; received his sight for received sight forthwith, A.V. and T.R.; he arose for arose, A.V. As it were scales (); scales, or flakes; any thin substance which peals off; a frequent term in Greek medical writers. And was baptized. It is a curious difference between St. Paul and the other apostles that, if they were baptized at all, which is doubtful, they must have been baptized by Christ himself; whereas St. Paul received his baptism at the hands of Ananias. This is one mark of his being “born out of due time.” And yet he was not behind the very chiefest apostles.

Act 9:19

He took food and for when he had received meat he, A.V.; and he was for then was Saul, A.V. and T.R. Some commentators would interpose the journey to Arabia (mentioned Gal 1:17) between Act 9:19 and Act 9:20; and this seems to be the intention of the A.V., where the clause commencing with Then (Act 9:19) seems to wind up and close the preceding narrative. This too is the view strongly supported by Canon Farrar, vol. 1. ch. 11., and by Lewin. Alford places the journey to Arabia in the time comprised in Act 9:22; others before Act 9:22; Neander, Meyer, and others, in the time comprised in the “many days” of Act 9:23. And this last is undoubtedly the easiest, were it not for the considerations urged by Farrar with great force as to the probability of St. Paul seeking a period of retirement after his conversion before commencing any public preaching, and the further countenance given to this view by Gal 1:17, where St. Paul certainly says of himself that , immediately, after his conversion he “went away to Arabia.” Taking all things into consideration, and supposing that either Luke was not aware of the sojourn in Arabia, or that he omitted from his notes some brief notice of it immediately preceding the description of Saul’s preaching in Damascus, which explained the following , it seems best to understand the latter part of verse 19 and all that follows as subsequent to his return from Arabia; and to conclude that he only stayed at Damascus , a few days, after his conversion, and then retired to Arabia. It may be observed, too, that this interpretation gives a significance to the mention of the “certain days” which otherwise it has not. There is a further difference of opinion as to what is meant by Arabia. The most common view is that Auranitis, bordering upon Arabia Deserts, and reckoned as part of Arabia, not above two days’ journey from Damascus, is the country meant. But others understand it in its more strictly Hebrew sense of the Peninsula of Sinai. This view is decidedly strengthened by the fact that, in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul clearly means by Arabia the Peninsula of Arabia, where Sinai was (Gal 4:25). On the assumption that the Sinaitic Peninsula is meant, Bishop Lightfoot says, “He was attracted thither by a spirit akin to that which formerly had driven Elijah to the same region. Standing on the threshold of the new covenant, he was anxious to look upon the birthplace of the old; that, dwelling for a while in seclusion in the presence of the mount that burned with fire, he might ponder over the transient glories of the ministration of death, and apprehend its real purpose in relation to the more glorious covenant which was now to supplant it.” His journey to Arabia need not necessarily have occupied more than two or three mouths. It seems certain that he did not preach there, because he says (Act 26:20), “I declared to them at Damascus first,“ etc. (see another coincidence between the Acts and the Epistle to the Galatians in Act 13:2, note).

Act 9:20

In the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus for he preached Christ in the synagogues, A.V. and T.R. The preponderance of manuscript authority, and the of Act 9:21, and the of Act 9:22, seem conclusive in favor of Jesus rather than Christ. As regards the expression straightway, we must understand it as descriptive of Saul’s action upon his return from Arabia. Is it possible that St. Luke uses it with the same meaning as he may have heard St. Paul use it in when speaking of his Damascus preaching, in the same sense as St. Paul actually does speak in Gal 1:17, viz. as expressing that he did not wait for authority from the apostles, but at once, fresh from the Divine call, and having a direct commission from Christ himself, entered upon his apostolic ministry? If the Epistle to the Galatians was written A.D. 58, it would be just about the time that St. Luke joined St. Paul, and might be commencing to collect materials for his history. So that the phrase in the Galatians and the phrase in this twentieth verse might really be the expression of one thought committed to paper by St. Paul on the one hand, and uttered in the ear of Luke on the other. It is a confirmation of this view that in 2 Corinthians, written about the same time, there is also an account of Saul’s escape from Damascus. In the synagogues; the very synagogues (verse 2) to which the letters of the high priest were addressed, empowering him to arrest either man or woman who called upon the Name of Jesus, and bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem to be tried before the Sanhedrim. No wonder they were amazed.

Act 9:21

And for but, A.V.; that in Jerusalem made havoc of for that destroyed them (which called on this Name) in Jerusalem, A.V.; and he had come hither for this intent for and came hither for that intent, A.V., differently stopped; before for unto, A.V. The chief priests. The plural seems to mark how the high priesthood at this period was passed from one to another. Caiaphas, Annas, Jonathan, and Theophilus would all be included under the term.

Act 9:22

The Christ for very Christ, A.V. The repetition of the phrase (Act 9:20 and Act 9:22) is remarkable. As already observed, it presupposes the mention of Jesus, of whom it is thus predicated that he is both “the Son of God” and “the Christ” (comp. Act 2:32, Act 2:36; Act 4:11, etc.). Observe the incidental proof of the general expectation of the Jews that Christ should come in this description of the apostolic preaching as directed to the one point that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ.

Act 9:23

When for after that, A.V.; took counsel together for took counsel, A.V. The phrase many days is quite elastic enough to comprehend whatever time remained to make up the three years (Gal 1:18) which St. Paul tells us intervened between his conversion and his visit to Jerusalem (see Act 9:43; Act 18:18; 37:7; Act 14:3). Luke frequently uses for “many” (Luk 7:11; Luk 8:27; Luk 23:8). So in Hebrew, , many days, is applied to considerable portions of time. In I Kings Luk 2:38, Luk 2:39, it is applied to three years.

Act 9:24

Their plot () became known for their laying await was known, A.V.; to Saul for of Saul, A.V.; the gates also for the gates, A.V. and T.R.; that they might for to, A.V.; a colon instead of full point at end of verse.

Act 9:25

But for then, A.V.; his disciples for the disciples, A.V. and T.R.; through for by, A.V; lowering him in for in, A.V. Lowering him, etc. The A.V. gives the sense freely; and combining the verb with the participle , translates both by the one word “let him down.” The by of the A.V. seems preferable to the through of the R.V., as through suggests the idea, which cannot be intended, of making a hole in the wall. The escape of the spies from Jericho, as described in Jos 2:15, was exactly in the same way, except that they had only a rope to descend by, whereas St. Paul had a rope-basket. In the description of his escape given by St. Paul to the Corinthians (2Co 11:33), he uses the same word for “let down” (), tells us he was let down “by the wall,” R.V. , with the additional particular that he got out through the window, , and that it was a , a basket made of ropes (which describes the kind of basket somewhat more accurately than the here used) in which he was let down (see note on Jos 2:20). The passage in 2 Corinthians gives us a further interesting account of how the Jews went about to accomplish their purpose of killing Paul. It seems that at this time, either in revolt against the Romans or by permission of Caligula (it is not known certainly which), a certain Aretas, or Hareth, King of Arabia Petrea, included Damascus in his dominions for a time, i.e. through the reigns of Caligula and Claudius. He appointed an ethnarch, who was doubtless a Jew, to rule the large Jewish population according to their Law, and who was the ready tool of the unbelieving Jews, using his power as governor to have the gates kept day and night so as to prevent Saul’s escape. But he that keepeth Israel neither slumbered nor slept, and by his watchful providence Saul escaped from their hands. As regards the R.Y., his disciples for the disciples, Alford adopts the reading , and holds of the R.T. to be simply a mistake for , caused by the situation of after . The R.T. cannot be right. “The disciples” is St. Luke’s regular expression for “Christians” (Act 6:1, Act 6:2, Act 6:7; Act 9:10, Act 9:19, Act 9:26; Act 14:22; Act 21:16), and is our Lord’s name for his followers, but is never used by an apostle of his own followers (see 1Co 1:12, 1Co 1:13; 1Co 3:4-7).

Act 9:26

He for Saul, A.V. and T.R.; and they were for but, etc., A.V.; not believing for and believed not, A.V. The narrative thus far exactly agrees with Gal 1:17, Gal 1:18, which, however, supplies the motive of the journey to Jerusalem, which is not here mentioned, viz. to see Peter. It seems strange to some commentators that the news of Saul having become a zealous Christian should not have reached Jerusalem after an interval of three years. But first, we do not know. how much of those three years was spent in Arabia, nor how much the unsettled state of Damascus may have interrupted the usual communication between Jerusalem and Damascus, nor how suspicious of evil the poor persecuted disciples at Jerusalem may have been. They knew of the fierceness of Saul’s zeal as a persecutor by their own experience; they knew of him as a disciple only by report. It may have been only an instance of the truth of Horace’s maxim, “Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures quam quae sunt occults subjecta fidelibus.”

Act 9:27

How at Damascus he had preached boldly for how he had preached boldly at Damascus, A.V. As regards the statement that Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, which some have thought inconsistent with Gal 1:18 19, it is obvious to remark that St. Luke’s account is fully justified by the fact that St. Paul did, on Barnabas’s introduction, make the acquaintance of Peter, and, as it seems, pass fifteen days as his guest (Gal 1:18); and while there, did also see James the Lord’s brother. The other apostles were probably absent from Jerusalem during that fortnight; but Barnabas did, it seems, at a Church assembly, in the presence of James and, no doubt, the elders of the Church, give the astonishing narrative of Saul’s conversion. This removed their suspicious and their fears, and he was freely, during the rest of his brief stay, admitted as a brother to their assemblies, and took part in preaching the gospel in the synagogues.

Act 9:28

Going in for coming in, A.V.

Act 9:29

Preaching boldly, etc, the and of the T.R. is omitted, and this clause connected with the preceding one; the Lord for the Lord Jesus, A.V. and T.R.; he spake for he spake boldly, A.V. (The (translated preaching boldly) , is in the R.T. separated from ); the Grecian Jews for the Grecians, A.V., as in Act 6:1; to kill for to slay, A.V. The Grecian Jews; or, Hellenists (margin). St. Stephen was a Hellenist, and it was among the Hellenists that his evangelical labors elderly lay and from whose enmity he met his death. Saul showed his dauntless spirit, and perhaps his deep compunction at the part he had taken in Stephen’s death, by thus encountering their bitter and unrelenting enmity.

Act 9:30

And when the brethren knew it for which when the brethren knew, A.V. St. Paul gives another reason for his hasty departure from Jerusalem in his speech from the castle stairs (Act 22:17-21). Caesarea, when standing alone, means Caesarea Stratonis, or , or Sebaste, the seaport and Roman garrison of that name, as distinguished from Caesarea Philippi (see Alford’s note on Act 8:30), and is always so used by St. Luke (Luk 8:40; Luk 10:1, Luk 10:24; Luk 18:22; Luk 21:8, Luk 21:16; Luk 23:23, Luk 23:33; 25:1, 4, 6; 27:1, 2, showing it was a seaport). There is no reasonable doubt that it means the same place here. A seaport, near to Jerusalem, and with Roman protection, affording access to Tarsus either by sea or land as should seem best, was the natural place for Paul’s friends to take him to. If further proof were wanting, it could be found in the phrase, “brought him down,” as compared with the converse, “gone up” (Act 18:22), “ascended “(Act 25:1), when the journey was from Caesarea to Jerusalem. To Tarsus. A glance at the map will show that, starting from Caesarea, a person might either go by land along the sea-coast of Phoenicia, through Acre, Tyre, Sidon, Beyrout, Tripolis, Antioch, Issus, to Tarsus; or by sea to any of the intermediate ports between Caesarea and Tarsus; or rather the artificial harbor at the mouth of the Cydnus which formed the seaport of Tarsus. It is not improbable that Paul landed at Selcucia, since he says (Gal 1:21) that he came at this time “into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,” which is exactly what he would have done if he had landed at Seleucia, the seaport of Antioch.

Act 9:31

So the Church had peace, being edified for then had the Churches rest, and were edified, A.V. and T.R.; was multiplied for were multiplied, A.V. and T.R. It is thought that the attention of the Jews to the progress of the faith of Jesus Christ was diverted at this time, and their active hostility stayed, by the still greater danger to the Jews’ religion which arose from Caligula’s intention of placing a statue to himself as a god in the holy of holies. Thus did God’s gracious providence intervene to give rest to his harassed saints, and to build up his Church in numbers, in holiness, and in heavenly comfort. Especially Paul had another breathing-time, which may have been the more required if, as is thought, one at least of the five scourgings mentioned in 2Co 12:1-21 :24 had been inflicted at Damascus, and one of the three shipwrecks alluded to in the same passage and been undergone in the dangerous coasting voyage from Caesarca to Scleucia.

Act 9:32

Went for passed, A.V.; all parts ( ) for all quarters, A.V. All parts. Afford, following Meyer, understands “through all the saints,” which is scarcely so well. The current of St. Luke’s narrative is here temporarily diverted from St. Paul, in order to trace that portion of St. Peter’s apostolic work, which led immediately to that opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles in which Peter was to have the priority in point of time (Mat 16:18, Mat 16:19), but Paul the chief burden of labour and danger (Gal 2:7-9; Rom 11:13), and which was also the main subject of St. Luke’s history. He came down; Lydda (afterwards called Diospolis, now Ludd), being more than half-way between Jerusalem and the sea-coast at Joppa.

Act 9:33

For he was palsied for and was sick of the palsy, A.V.

Act 9:34

Healeth thee for maketh thee whole, A.V.; straightway he arose for he arose immediately, A.V. Jesus Christ healeth thee. The juxtaposition, , looks almost like an intentional play upon the sound. Some of the Fathers who did not know Hebrew derived the name from , and the Anglo-Saxon name for the Savior Haelend, the Healer, seems to have the same origin. Arise and make thy bed. Not (says Meyer), “Henceforth make thine own bed,” but, as the force of the imperative script requires, make thy bed now, both as a token of his miraculous cure, and that he might carry it away (Mar 2:9-12). AEneas is a Greek name, not identical with AEneas (), but occurring in Thucydides and elsewhere. If it was a Hebrew name, it might be derived from , “(whom) the eye spareth.” It is uncertain whether AEneas was a disciple or not.

Act 9:35

In Sharon for at Saron, A.V.; they turned for turned, A.V. In Sharon. The Greek represents the Hebrew , Sharon, which is the name of the rich plain which stretches from Joppa to Caesarea (see Isa 33:9). The name still lingers in the village of Saron. They turned; manifestly an improvement on the A.V., as giving the sense of , viz. that all who saw the paralytic walking, turned, as a consequence, to the Lord, in whose Name the wonderful miracle had been wrought. A very extensive conversion of the people of Lydda and of Sharon is signified.

Act 9:36

Joppa; now Jaffa, the ancient seaport of Jerusalem (Jon 1:3; 2Ch 2:16). It was in the tribe of Dan (Jos 19:46). A certain disciple; a female disciple, as the word means; only occurs here in the New Testament and rarely elsewhere. Tabitha; the Aramean form of the Hebrew , a gazelle, or in Greek Dorcas. The beauty and grace of the gazelle made it an appropriate name for a woman. Some have thought, with probability, that she was a deaconess of the Church. The thirty-eighth verse shows that there was already a Church at Joppa About half the population of seven thousand are said to be still Christians. Compare the qualifications of a widow as set forth by St Paul (1Ti 5:10). The phrase, good works, is quite Pauline (Eph 2:10; Col 1:10; Tit 2:7; 1Ti 2:10). Almsdeeds. The word alms (from ) is one of those Greek words which has been domiciled in the English language through the Church. So bishop, priest, deacon, , trisagion, stole, Paschal, Litany, Liturgy, and many others.

Act 9:37

Fell sick for was sick, A.V.; and when they had washed her for whom when they had washed, A.V. For the phrase in those days, comp. Act 6:1. The days here meant are those while Peter was in those parts. An upper chamber (), as in Act 1:13. The upper chamber was much more private and quiet than a room on the ground floor (see 2Ki 4:10, 2Ki 4:11).

Act 9:38

As for forasmuch as, A.V.; unto for to, A.V.; the disciples, hearing sent for and the disciples had heard they sent, A.V.; two men unto him for unto him two men, A.V.; entreating for desiring, A.V.; delay not to come on unto us for that he would not delay to come to them, A.V. and T.R. It is impossible to say whether any vague hope that Dorcas might be restored to life by Peter’s prayers animated those who sent for Peter, and who had either seen or heard of the miracles wrought by him at Jerusalem before the persecution (Act 5:15), or whether it only was that they felt the need of comfort and support in so great a sorrow. Two men; so Act 10:7. Cornelius sends two of his household servants (comp. Act 13:2; Act 15:22). In unsafe times and by dangerous roads, it was customary to send two messengers, both for mutual protection and that, if anything happened to one, the other might still deliver the message. It was also a security against fraud.

Act 9:39

And for then, A.V.; and when for when, A.V. All the widows. The article may denote all the widows for whom Dorcas had made garments, which the middle voice (), found only here, indicates perhaps that they had on them at the time. But it is quite as probable that means the Church widows, as in Act 6:1 and 1Ti 5:9, and that we have here an indication that the model of the Jerusalem Church was followed in all the daughter Churches. Dorcas’s almsdeeds would naturally have for their first object the widows of her own communion. As naturally would they all come to meet the apostle at her house.

Act 9:40

Turning for turning him, A.V.; he said for said, A.V. Peter’s action in putting them all forth seems to have been framed on the model of that scene at which he had been present when Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus. Privacy for the more earnest concentrated prayer was doubtless what he sought. Kneeled down; . The same expression as in Act 7:60; Act 20:36; Act 21:5; Luk 22:41. It occurs also in Mar 15:19. Tabitha, arise. Exactly the same address as our Lord’s “Talitha cumi” (Mar 5:40), but, as Lange observes, with this difference, that in the case of Peter it was preceded by prayer; comp. also Luk 7:14 (where the Aramean address was probably in the same form); Joh 11:43.

Act 9:41

Raised for lifted, A.V.; calling for when he had called, A.V.; he presented for presented, A.V. The saints and widows; by which we learn that others of the Christians of Joppa besides the widows had come to meet Peter, as was to be expected.

Act 9:42

It became known for it was known, A.V.; on for in, A.V. As in Act 9:35, the result of the healing of the palsied man at Lydda was that very many “turned to the Lord,” so here the like effect was produced at Joppa by the restoration of Dorcas to life. Many believed on the Lord. And St. John tells us (Joh 20:31) that the very purpose of the record which he wrote of the miracles of Christ is “that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing we may have life in his Name.”

Act 9:43

Abode for tarried, A.V. Many days ( ); the same phrase as Act 9:23; spoken of a time of indeterminate length. Here probably it means some months, luring which Peter would be evangelizing the whole neighborhood. The Jews are said to have considered the trade of a tanner unclean; but if this were so, it would not be safe to infer that Peter was already indifferent to ceremonial uncleanness. We know he was not so (Act 10:14), but probably in his line of life he could not act up to all the nicer distinctions of the strictest Pharisees.

HOMILETICS

Act 9:1-31

The Ethiopian changes his skin.

Of all the remarkable events in the history of human psychology, probably the most remarkable is the conversion of St. Paul, the memory of which is continually celebrated in the Church on the 25th of January. It may be viewed

I. AS AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. St. Paul lived. He preached the gospel with astonishing vigor and success. Numerous Churches were founded by him in Asia and Europe. These are facts as certain as facts can be. He wrote Epistles also to different communities of Christians, and these writings are extant at the present day. By these writings we can form an accurate judgment of St. Paul’s intellectual faculties, of the force of his character, of the extent of his knowledge. By these writings we can form an estimate of his moral qualities. We can judge for ourselves whether, on the one hand, he was a fanatic, an impostor, or a knave; and, on the other, whether he was one of the noblest, sincerest, and most high-minded men with whom we have ever come in contact. These writings, besides exhibiting an unquenchable zeal for the Christian faith, lasting through years of toil and suffering, tell us also distinctly, though incidentally, of a time when the writer was as vehemently opposed to the Christian faith as he afterwards became attached to it. They contain, too, clear evidences of that education in the Jews’ religion, and that impregnation with Jewish doctrine and tradition, which were likely to have had the same influence upon his mind which the same causes had upon the minds of so many of his ablest and most learned fellow-countrymen. They also display those qualities of disinterestedness, courage, and decision, which make it to the highest degree improbable that he should have changed his mind lightly or without conviction or due cause for doing so. But he did change from a vehement and fierce persecutor to a preacher of unrivalled zeal and power, and a daily martyr of unsurpassed patience and constancy. But these same Epistles also tell us, still incidentally but also still distinctly, the cause of this change. It was nothing less than the visible appearing and the audible voice of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, of him whom he knew to have been crucified, but whom he now saw and heard in his effulgent glory, living and potent in ineffable majesty. It was that sight, too bright for mortal eyes, and that voice of exquisite tenderness in its complaint, which had in an instant overborne his unbelief and melted his obdurate heart, even as his body was swayed in terror to the ground. Did St. Paul know, or did he not know, the cause of his conversion? Did he invent a lie, or did he speak the truth, when he wove this history, or allusions to it, into his Epistles to the Galatians, the Corinthians, the Philippians, and Timothy? But even if it were possible to doubt the man whom we know as we know St. Paul, we have his account corroborated and developed by a contemporary writer of unimpeached and unimpeachable accuracy and truth. He gives us in this chapter his own account of this wonderful conversion, and he reports to us two several accounts of it given by St. Paul himselfwhen on his defense before the people at Jerusalem, and again when on his trial before King Agrippa at Caesarea. Did St. Luke write a lie when he reported these utterances of his noble and saintly friend? or did he speak the truth which he had such abundant opportunities of accurately knowing? There is no fact in history more certain than St. Paul’s conversion, and there is no more unanswerable evidence of the truth of Christ’s gospel than this same conversion grounded upon the revelation in the way to Damascus.

II. WE MAY SEE IN ST. PAUL‘S CONVERSION VIVIDLY PORTRAYED THE LEADING DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. What was it which arrested the persecutor in his furious course, which turned back the whole current of his thoughts, which wrought in him that noble inconsistency, that holy apostasy from his previous convictions, which have placed him at the head of Christian teachers and confessors? It was the clear knowledge conveyed to him by his own senses of sight and hearing that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was risen, was alive, was glorified. He knew that he had been tried at the bar of Pilate, condemned, crucified, buried. He had thought that sentence a just one. He had thought that that life, closed in ignominy and shame, was closed for ever, and that his own Jews’ religion had thereby triumphed and been confirmed. Now he knew that God had reversed that sentence, and had raised Jesus from the dead, and declared him in so doing to be his own eternal Son, both Lord and Christ. His previous convictions were thus refuted by the fact of the life and glory and Godhead of the Lord Jesus. The truth of the mission of Jesus Christ was thus in an instant established by irrefragable proof. Henceforth Jesus Christ was his Lord, his Guide, his Teacher, his Master, his almighty Savior. Henceforth his own body and soul, his life, and all his powers, his whole capacity of doing and suffering, were Christ’s, wholly and only Christ’s. Here then we see, as in a glass, what our own religion must be. It must consist in a full assurance of faith that Jesus Christ is risen and lives for ever in the power of his Godhead, and in the consecration of ourselves to his service in the power of a personal love, devotion, and attachmentthose of a person to a Personto last while life lasts, and to be perfected in the life

III. CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL GIVES US ALSO A VIVID PORTRAITURE OF THE MIND AND CHARACTER OF GOD, AS THEY SHINE IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST. This is St. Paul’s own view of it: “For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1Ti 1:16). We have here a pattern of the infinite, eternal mercy of God. The threatening and slaughter of the persecutor are met and overcome by love. The ignorance and unbelief which caused the blasphemies and injuries are taken note of, and these are weighed in the scales of mercy and are forgiven. The electing grace, the predestinating love, brushes aside these obstacles, and the blaspheming tongue is made eloquent with adoration and praise, and the breath which was once all threatening and slaughter now breathes nothing but the word of peace and salvation. Such is the mercy and wondrous grace of God our Savior.

IV. WE HAVE HERE A STUDY IN PSYCHOLOGY. Ignorance may be real. Prejudices, blinding prejudices, may be real, and unbelief may have some excuse, or at least some palliation. It is not, indeed, blamelessit never can be, because the single eye of a pure heart ought always to discern the true light from Heaven wheresoever it shines. Still, it may be that, with real conscientiousness, and under a mistaken view of duty, and with a blinding devotion to certain tenets of philosophy or religion which have been received without due care, and concurrently with a zeal for God and for supposed truth, a man may reject and even hate the truth. He may mistake his own opinions for Divine truth, and so be bitterly opposed to whatever opposes them. And he may misconceive of the truth and ignorantly believe that it sanctions this or that error inconsistent with the fundamental principles of righteousness and godliness. Had St. Paul from the first really known Jesus Christ, and had he known the worthlessness of Levitical or Pharisaic righteousness, he would never have been found in the ranks of the enemies of Christ. But he acted in ignorance and in unbelief. When the scales fell off the eyes of his understanding, the rebound of his spirit toward his Lord was instantaneous. From this we learn a lesson of caution in judging even the unbeliever. There may be some cause of his unbelief which we know not of, but which God knows, and will perhaps some day remove. Then the skeptic will come with a bruised and humble spirit to Christ, and the Ethiopian will change his skin.

Act 9:32-43

The fisher of men.

“The Church had rest,” we read in Act 9:31, “throughout all Judaea and Galilee.” Not so the primate of the Church. The Church’s rest from persecution was his season of work. A brief glimpse of his work may be edifying to us. We saw something of his ministry at Jerusalem in the earlier chapters of this bookpreaching, praying, praising, healing, protesting, resisting, suffering, perplexing his enemies, exhorting and comforting the saints. We saw him carefully building up the Churchbaptizing, breaking the bread of life, appointing fresh ministries, repairing the walls of the new Jerusalem with his weapons of war in his hand. We saw him the faithful administrator of the Church’s discipline, her courageous confessor, breasting the storm of persecution at his post, and maintaining the center of Christian unity with his brother apostles at Jerusalem. Then we saw him preaching the gospel in the villages of Samaria, confirming the baptized, rebuking the hypocrite, and returning to the post of danger at Jerusalem. And now again we see him actively at work. We see his care for all the Churches, his tender anxiety for all the disciples who had been folded in Christ’s fold in those days of danger and alarm, test the hour of rest and prosperity should bring greater dangers to them than the day of persecution had done. He goes forth into all quarters where any disciples were, and, not content with former conquests, he so wrought by word and deed that many more were added to the Lord. Now he speaks to AEneas the word of healing at Lydda; now he passes on to the chamber of death at Joppa. Always ready with outstretched hand, or speaking mouth, or words of prayer, to fulfill his ministry and be a fisher of men for Christ. Blessed Peter! glorious apostle! great primate of the Church! opener of the door to Jews and Gentiles! we praise God for thy mighty works wrought in the Name of Jesus Christ. We pray him to give more such pastors to his feeble flock, to bind up that which is broken, to bring again that which is driven away, to seek out that which is lost, that there may be once again “one fold under one Shepherd,” and that all they who do confess the Name of Jesus Christ may be united in one communion and fellowship to the glory of his great Name.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Act 9:1-9

Conversion.

We have here an instance and a picture of conversionof a human soul pursuing the wrong course, being arrested by the Divine hand, and submitting itself willingly to the rule of Christ.

I. A HUMAN SOUL PURSUING ITS OWN WRONG COURSE. Paul was moving with the whole force of his strong and ardent nature in the direction of active persecution of the friends of Christ (Act 9:1, Act 9:2, Act 9:5). Sin sometimes takes this special form now. More often it takes the shape of

(1) guilty indulgence, or

(2) utter worldliness, or

(3) confirmed unbelief and rejection of the truth, or

(4) indecision and procrastination.

But whatever particular form it takes, its essential nature is thisthat the soul which was created to love, honor, and please God is pursuing another and an opposite path; it is found in highways or byways of evil. It is not with God, with Christ, but against him (Mat 12:30). It itself is not in active sympathy with him, rejoicing in him, delighting in his truth and happy in his service; and all the influences, both those which (as in the case of Saul at this time) are the direct result of conscious effort, and those which flow spontaneously and unconsciously from the life, are hostile to his truth and to his kingdom.

II. THE DIVINE ARREST. (Act 9:3-5.) Paul tells us (Php 3:12) that he was “apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Christ laid hold upon him as he was going on his guilty way, arrested him in his own name, and charged him to turn round and pursue another and a better course. The Savior’s interposition in his case was unusually sudden, and it was exceedingly striking in its form (see Act 9:3-5). It is seldom that the hand of the heavenly Lord is laid so manifestly, so powerfully, on the human heart. Yet it is being continually laid upon us, and we now are being arrested by him, with effectual power in redeeming love.

1. Christ’s arrest of us is sometimes sudden, but more often gradual. Sometimes a man who has been proceeding far in some way of folly and of sin is instantly convinced that he is guilty and foolish; in an hour, in a moment, the truth of God flashes into his soul and lights up the dark depths within, and it shines upon and illumines the dreary and fatal path before him, and he stops and turns. More frequently the Lord of love and power works gradually in the heart; by degrees he insinuates his heavenly truth, and gradually makes the soul to see and to feel that the way of selfishness and of sin is a path which must no longer be pursued, from which it must escape for its life.

2. The Divine arrest is sometimes by extraordinary but usually by ordinary means. Occasionally God comes in power to the human soul, by some vision of the night or of the day, or by some very remarkable ordering of his providence, by some experience which is shared by no other or by a very few; but commonly the hand of his renewing power is laid upon us by ordinary means, by the gracious influences of a Christian home, by the appeals of the Christian minister or teacher, by the sickness which brings death and judgment into full view, or by the loss which compels us to feel that we do need and must secure a Divine Friend who can succor and console in the drear and lonely hour of life.

III. THE SOUL‘S SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL. The first result of feeling the pressure of the Divine hand may be, perhaps generally is, spiritual agitations. We may be “trembling and astonished” (Act 9:6), or, if not moved so powerfully, we shall be agitated, earnestly concerned, exceedingly solicitous; we shall be as those thoroughly awakened who have been partially asleep, our spiritual faculty of inquiry will be called into fullest exercise. But the main and all-important result is spiritual submissionreadiness and eagerness to accept the rule of Christ. The question of Saul will be the question of our heart, now reduced to loyalty and self-surrender, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Christ will tell us that he wants us to trust him, to follow him, to work for him. And these three things we shall gladly do. But the victory is gained, the one supreme step is taken, death is left behind, and the gates of life are before us, when, responding to his merciful and mighty touch, we submit ourselves to his sovereign will, when we turn round in spirit and say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”C.

Act 9:6

The goads of God.

There is probably some truth in the familiar saying “If Stephen had not prayed, Paul had not preached.” The influence of the sight of that martyrdom, and especially of that magnanimous prayer, may have had much to do with converting Saul the persecuting Pharisee into Paul the faithful apostle. For what could our Lord have meant by saying, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads,“ but that, as it is a vain, useless, and hurtful thing for the yoked ox to struggle against that which is inciting it to its work, so was it a useless and hurtful thing for Saul to be rebelling against those scruples, heart-searchings, convictions, which were urging him to enter a new and better path? This may seem inconsistent with the language which has just been used (Act 9:1); but we must remember that vehemence is never quite so violent as when it begins to suspect itself to be in the wrong; that persecution is never so passionate, fanaticism never so fierce, as when it is most impressed with the goodness and innocency of its victim. Your Levee never strikes so murderous a blow as when he finds himself face to face with a Christian hero and feels himself to be thoroughly condemned. So Saul never breathed out such threatening and slaughter as when the sight of Stephen’s blood-stained body was still before his eyes, and the sound of his generous intercession still lingered in his ear. But he was beginning to think that, after all, perhaps those Christians were in the right and that he was in the wrong, and that he must either shut his eyes hard against the light or change his course. By violent suppression of these new thoughts, by stifling all scruples with strong hand, by kicking against the goads of God, he found himself on the way to Damascus to worry and harry the servants of Christ. There the Lord whom he was to serve so faithfully met him and told him he was doing a hard thing in thus struggling against the Heaven-sent promptings which urged him to take the true and right path.

I. THE PREVALENCE OF INWARD STRUGGLE. Few things more pathetic have come down to us from ancient times than that lament of the Roman poet, “I see the better things and approve; I follow the worse.” How many have to make the same sorrowful confession now! Around us are souls struggling

(1) with passion,

(2) with earthly ambition,

(3) with pride,

(4) with disposition to wait for some favorable future.

These find themselves urged by the goads of Godconscience, the sacred Scriptures, human ministry, the Divine Spiritto take the better course, but their lower instincts and evil habits cause them to strive against these higher impulses.

II. ITS PROFOUND MISTAKE.

1. It is a miserable thing in a man’s own experience to be living a life of vice, or worldliness, or selfishness, or indecision, when the soul is conscious of a Divine voice calling it to higher thingsto pursue a path which is known and felt to be the wrong one. This is a wretched life to live; there is no peace, no spiritual rest, no lasting joy; there is distraction, discontent, rebellion. It is hard for a human soul to kick against the goads of God.

2. It is a regrettable thing, judged from outside. Those who look on” the cloud of witnesses “see with unspeakable sorrow a human heart spending its powers and wasting its life in battling with its purer and nobler aspirations. There is no more saddening sight to a Christ-like spirit than that of a human heart thus striving with the influences which come from heaven to raise and to redeem it.

3. It is a guilty thing, life man can continue to do that without storing up for himself “wrath against the day of wrath.”

III. THE ONE WISE COURSE TO TAKE. There is only one thing for such a man to dohe must yield himself at once to God’s gracious forces. He must be the “prisoner of the Lord,” that he may become “the freedman of Christ.” He must go on whither his Redeemer is urging himon to full self-surrender; on to sacred and harry service; and so on to the heavenly kingdom.C.

Act 9:10-18

Christ’s treatment of us and our obedience to him.

I. THAT CHRIST MAY CALL US TO WORK WHICH WILL BE AT FIRST PERPLEXING. (Act 9:10-14.) Nothing which Christ could have given Ananias to do would have surprised him more than the duty with which he was entrusted. It filled him with astonishment and perplexity. Instead of immediately acquiescing, he raised a strong objection (Act 9:13, Act 9:14). It seemed impossible to him that this should be his mission; nevertheless it was so, and the obedient disciple of Damascus never did a better morning’s work than when he conveyed sight to the eyes and gladness to the heart of the last and greatest of the apostles. We may be summoned by our Lord, either through the promptings of his own Spirit or through the instrumentality of his Church, to do work which at first seems surprising, undesirable, useless. We may be invited to appeal to those we deem unlikely to welcome us, to address ourselves to apparently unremunerative toil, to cultivate ground which looks sterile to our eye; but it may be that we are really called of Christ to do a most needed and useful work.

II. THAT CHRIST ONLY KNOWS WHAT IS THE RANGE OF OUR SPIRITUAL CAPACITY. (Act 9:15.) There may be very much more of spiritual power resident in us or in our neighbors than we have any conception of. How many have lived and died with vast possibilities of good in their nature never realized! Their talent has been buried. Has not our Master some good or even some great work for us to achieve? May we not, like Ananias, be instrumental in leading forward some servant of Christ who has great capacities of usefulness in him? We must make the most and best of ourselves and of others; only our Lord and theirs knows how much it is in us and in them to accomplish.

III. THAT CHRIST MAY CALL US TO THE HIGHEST POST IT IS EVER GIVEN TO HIS SERVANTS TO FILL. (Act 9:16.) He may summon us to “suffer for his Name’s sake.” We never reach so lofty an altitude, never come so near to the Master himself, never so nobly serve our kind, as when we willingly and cheerfully suffer for the kingdom of heaven’s sake; then we may “rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is our reward in heaven.”

IV. THAT THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE IS NEVER MORE TRULY MANIFEST THAN WHEN WE DO WORK FROM WHICH WE SHRINK. (Act 9:17.) When it is in our human nature to shrink from any duty, but when, from regard to our Master’s will, we address ourselves to it, then we do that which is acceptable to him. It is at variance with our material interests, against our inclinations, opposed to our tastes and views; “nevertheless at Christ’s word we will” do what is desired (see Luk 5:5). Ananias shrinks from approaching the arch-persecutor; nevertheless at Christ’s bidding he goes, takes a friendly tone and does a brotherly deed.

V. THAT WE SHOULD AT ONCE ACKNOWLEDGE OUR DIVINE REDEEMER. (Act 9:18.) As soon as the scales had fallen from his eyes and he received sight, as soon as he had been favored with this further confirmation that he was under the teaching and leading of the Son of God himself, Paul “arose and was baptized.” No interval elapsed between the time when he was free to act as one redeemed and healed of Christ, and his action of open acknowledgment of conversion to the faith. We do well to wait till we are thoroughly assured of our whole-hearted reception of Jesus Christ before we confess him before men; but as soon as we clearly see that he is our Lord and that we are his disciples, it is

(1) our simple duty, as it is

(2) our valuable privilege, to honor our Redeemer by an open declaration of attachment to him, and to join ourselves to his disciples (Act 9:19).C.

Act 9:19-30

The texture of human life.

Of how many threads is this human life woven! Through what changeful experiences do we pass, even in a short period of our course! In the brief periodpossibly three yearscovered by our text, we find Paul undergoing various fluctuations of good and evil. It is suggestive of the nature and character of our common human life. We may gather them up thus

I. THE PLEASANT. Paul had the pleasure of:

1. Congenial fellowship. He was “with the disciples at Damascus” (Act 9:19); “he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem” (Act 9:27, Act 9:28). Few things shed more sunshine on our earthly path than the genial society of those with whom we are one in thought and aim.

2. Conscious growth in moral and spiritual power in dealing with men. He increased in strength (Act 9:22).

3. Fearless action on behalf of the true and right (Act 9:29). These are joys, deep and full, to a human spiritto be growing in influence, and to be playing a brave and noble part in the strife of life.

II. THE PAINFUL.

1. The distrust of those with whom we are in sympathy. Paul “assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were afraid,” etc. (Act 9:26). It is a very painful wound to the spirit to be distrusted by those to whom we really belong. To have our sincerity doubted, to have our purity questioned, to be looked at askance rather than with kindly and gracious eye,this is one of the keen, cutting miseries of life.

2. Persecution for conscience’ sake (Act 9:23, Act 9:24, Act 9:29). This may go far short of “seeking our life to take it away;” it may not pass beyond the sneering word or the curling lip, and yet it may introduce great bitterness into the cup of life.

3. Humiliation. Paul never seems to have forgotten the incident of his being let down in a basket (Act 9:25). He felt the humiliation of it. Anything which wounds our self-respect makes a lasting, often a lifelong, scar on the soul.

III. THE NEEDFUL.

1. Solitude. It is not stated in the text, but we know from his letters that at this juncture (probably between Act 9:19 and Act 9:20) Paul went into Arabia (Gal 1:17); there he spent much time alone with God; there he communed with his own spirit, “looking before and after;” there he re-read and read anew the Scriptures which he imagined he understood before, but now found to be other and more than he had supposed. We urgently need this element of solitude. We are not enough alone; more of quiet meditation, of communion with the Father of spirits, of reverent contemplation, would calm, steady, purify, ennoble us.

2. Social activity. (Act 9:20, Act 9:22, Act 9:29.) Whether or not we “preach Christ,” “confounding” and “disputing,” we must come into contact, and sometimes into collision with men. We need to know how to do this wisely and rightly, at times showing the fearless spirit, at times the spirit of discretion, at times the spirit of conciliation, always the spirit of Christ.

IV. THE ELEVATED. (Act 9:30.) This chapter simply tells us that the brethren brought Paul to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus. But Paul himself elsewhere informs us (Act 22:17, Act 22:18) that the Lord Jesus Christ manifested himself to him and desired him to leave Jerusalem. We do not look for such trances and visions now, but we do look, or should do so, for manifestations, indwellings, influences of the Divine Spirit of God, so that we ourselves and our whole human life may be guided and sanctified of God. Of such elements arc all our lives woven. We must gratefully accept and so sanctify the pleasant, meekly and cheerfully endure the painful, wisely employ the necessary, and reverently avail ourselves of the elevated; thus will our lives be blessed of God, thus will they speak his praise and spread his truth, thus will they lead to his presence and glory.C.

Act 9:31

The opportunity and obligation of the Church.

I. THAT A TIME OF TRANQUILLITY MAY BE AND SHOULD BE A PERIOD OF PROGRESS. “The Churches had rest . and were edified, were multiplied.” The time of rest is too often one of inglorious repose, of unworthy indulgence, or even fatal luxury and corruption. But when the molesting hand of persecution is taken away, it is possible for the Church to put forth all its strengthto enter on a path of unflagging activity, of holy enterprise, and of gratifying enlargement.

II. THAT THE CHURCH SHOULD NEVER BE WITHOUT A SENTIMENT OF SACRED AWE. It should always be walking “in the fear of the Lord.” Love, trust, joy in Christ, should be the element in which it lives; but it must never take leave of its deepest reverence and awe. It must walk “in fear,”

(1) realizing the near presence of its observant Lord, the Lord of righteousness and purity (Rev 2:1);

(2) remembering that it is held by him responsible for the extension of his kingdom, for the conversion of the world (2Co 5:19); recollecting that, if it should lose its sanctity, there is no human power by which it can hope to be restored (Mat 5:13).

III. THAT THE CHURCH REQUIRES TO BE CONTINUALLY SUSTAINED BY INFLUENCES WHICH ARE DISTINCTIVELY DIVINE. “Multiplied by the exhortation [comfort, ministry] of the Holy Spirit.” No perfectness of machinery, no eloquence of human oratory, no promptings of emulation, no pressure of authority, no earth-born influences of any kind or number, will suffice to sustain a Church in living power. It must be multiplied by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It must secure the teaching which is animated by the Spirit of God; it must be listening to the doctrine which is communicated By the Spirit; it must have the indwelling of the Spirit in the minds and hearts of its members; it must be looking to the ever-living power of the Spirit to make all its agencies and operations effectual.

IV. THAT THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SHOULD BE ADVANCING AS A DIVINELY ERECTED STRUCTURE. The Church “was edified.” built up; it rose as a structure risesgradually and in due proportions. The Church of Christ should, in the increase which it makes, possess the characteristics of the best buildingit should

(1) attain to a stately, should “multiply,” grow in numbers and in the extent of ground it covers;

(2) become more beautiful in aspect;

(3) acquire increasing strength.C.

Act 9:32-43

The miraculous and the supernatural.

In these verses we have two instances of the miraculous; and we may consider what was the worth of that element then, and why it has passed away; we may also consider the truth that the supernaturalthe directly though not visibly Divinestill abides and will continually endure.

I. THE RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLE, wrought in the apostolic age. Then it was (or seems to us to have been) necessary.

1. It was regarded as of the very essence of a new Divine system. Any doctrine which was to supersede the Law, and which did not carry with it the credentials of “wonderful works,” would have had no prospect or possibility of success.

2. It was a power of great potency in the age in which it was granted. Witness the text, among many others: “All that dwelt at Lydda and Saron turned to the Lord” (Act 9:35); “It was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord” (Act 9:42).

3. The early Church had to struggle against fearful odds, and might well be strengthened with a special and exceptional force. It had to contend with inveterate and all but impregnable prejudices, with powerful material interests, with worldly wisdom, with crushing political powers arrayed against it with drawn sword; it was a handful of weak men and women, destitute of resources, “unlearned and ignorant,” against a world in arms, against many millions inflamed with passionate hatred or filled with supercilious contempt. At such a stage it might well be reinforced with such help as the miraculous would yield it.

II. THE EXPLANATION OF ITS DISCONTINUANCE. It was a power, very valuable when wisely used, but liable to great abuse. The time might soon come when its presence would be harmful rather than helpful, when Christian men would be disposed to rely on the marvelous rather than the spiritual. That time did come, and it came earlier than we might have thought (see 1 Corinthians). Therefore it was mercifully withdrawn. Its continuance would only have been to leave in the Church’s hand a weapon by which it would have wounded itself.

III. ITS NEEDLESSNESS NOW. Now we should be able to dispense with such adventitious aid.

1. The wealth, the culture, the political power, the resources which give strength to human societies, are now on the side of Christian truth.

2. We are equipped with one weapon in particular which serves us instead of the miraculousscientific knowledge and skill. The principal wonders which the apostles wrought were works of healing or restoring, like that of healing AEneas (Act 9:34) and that of restoring Dorcas (Act 9:40, Act 9:41). Now we are able to go to the heathen, with the Bible in one hand and the pharmacopoeia in the other, and thus we can impress, heal, and win them. The medical missionary of the nineteenth century is as well furnished for his beneficent work as the Corinthian Christian of the first.

IV. THE ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE.

1. A power, distinctively Divine, still brings the dead to life. A more wonderful and far more blessed work is wrought when, to a soul “dead in trespasses and sins,” Christ now says, “Arise,” and it “opens its eyes” (Act 9:40) to see light in God’s light, to behold the truth in its excellency and power. More wonderful, because it is a greater work to revive a dead spirit than to resuscitate a dead bodythe one act is in the kingdom of the moral, the other of the mechanical; more blessed, for eternal life is an inestimably greater boon to impart than the prolongation for a few years of earthly existence. Dorcas had to die again and be again bewailed.

2. A power, directly and positively Divine, still confers spiritual health on those who have been spiritually paralyzed. By his renewing power, by the touch of his own reviving hand, “Jesus Christ makes whole” (Act 9:34) those who have been lethargic, indifferent, worldly, idle; and they arise.C.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Act 9:1-8

Saul on his way to Damascus.

I. THE PICTURE OF THE PERSECUTOR. It is almost the picture of a monster. It resembles the idea of the fearful dragon-monster, which breathes forth smoke and flame, and threatens to devour the sun and moon and stars. Saul is inspired by a murderous feeling against the disciples of Christ. He himself afterwards recognized that to persecute them was to persecute him (1Ti 1:13). Zeal for God without knowledge is another of his own descriptions of his state of mind (Rom 10:2). It leads directly to the devilish love of destruction (Joh 8:44). We can distinguish pure from carnal zeal only by the effects: the one impels us to build up, the other to destroy; the one to save men’s lives, the other to slay, and making a solitude to call it peace. But there are deep problems in the life of mind. Never is a man madly irritated against an opinion, violent against a cause or a person, but it is a symptom of a struggle within. The man is really at war with himself. A conviction is reluctantly forcing its way upon him; he feels the goads of conscience, and vents his resentment upon objects outside of himself.

II. THE PERSECUTOR CHECKED IN HIS CAREER. Notice the accompaniments of the revelation. They are:

1. Outward. A light out of heaven like lightning plays around the persecutor. He falls to the earth like a thunder-struck man. In this position the impressions of the ear come in to enhance those of the eye. A voice is heard calling him by name: “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?”

2. Inward. Saul has no difficulty in putting these things together and drawing the true inference from them. “Who art thou, Lord?” betrays his suspicion, perhaps his certainty, that the voice is that of the crucified One, against whose might he has been striving. And the voice returns, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Then follows the direction to go into Damascus and to await further orders. When the outward phenomena and the inward revelation are so closely interwoven, it is difficult to separate the one from the other, and unnecessary to do so. But the point to fix attention upon is thisthat revelation is always in the soul. How the new truth comes to us is not of so much importance as what permanent deposit it leaves behind it. “It pleased God to reveal his Son in me,“ said the quondam persecutor. The true mystery and wonder lie in the soul; all else is superficial and subsidiary compared with that. By what passes within we may interpret what passes without, but not vice versa. This scene is far more impressive and sheds a clear light on the conflicts of our own being, if we see in it a man cast down by the sudden splendor and terror of a conviction against which he had long been struggling. It is said that we never understand a truth until we have striven against it. He whom we have battled against as a deadly foe becomes our lifelong master when we are once fairly defeated at his hands.

III. OTHER MEANINGS IN THE EVENT.

1. Here was a personal appearance of Jesus. Jesus lives! This is the thought which comforts his friends, and strikes terror into his foes. “I am he that is, and was, and is to come.” “I am the living one!” (Rev 1:4, Rev 1:18). Never was this revelation of the living Christ forgotten by Saul. It afterwards became a main subject of his preaching, as it was the core of his creed. The living Christ is, indeed, the expression to us of the living and loving personality of God, of the will to save and to redeem evermore.

2. It was an appearance of Jesus in glory. The splendor and terror which surround him bespeak his sovereign might. “Why dost thou persecute me?” It is vain as well as wrong to contend against One to whose holiness and majesty the conscience bears its unerring witness. Saul seemed to think that he was wrestling against flesh and blood when he hurried those defenseless Christians; and that by weapons of flesh and blood Christianity might be overcome. But behold the majestic figure of One who comes with clouds. To offer him the show of violence is the extreme of irreverence and of folly. Never was this lesson forgotten. Our sins against our fellow-Christians are sins against Christ. We insult the love that suffered for us, and the majesty that rules and judges us.

3. Yet it was a revelation of the glorified humanity of Jesus. Saul saw him and heard him speak (Act 9:17; Act 27:15). The Redeemer glorifies the human form and nature which he wore on earth. Here lay a seed of St. Paul’s teaching on the spiritual body which glorified saints are to wear. Earth and heaven, the seen and the unseen world, are for ever joined and reconciled in the body in which he lived, suffered, rose, and reigns.

4. It was a revelation of exquisite Divine love and grace.

(1) Towards the persecuted. Their sorrows are the sorrows of Jesus. He makes their sufferings his own (Mat 25:45). His exaltation and glory do not lift him out of their reach. He reigns to throw the aegis of his providence and protection over the defenseless flock of his little ones. He is the Head, and all the members are in vital union with him, and receive from the fullness of his life.

(2) Towards the persecutor. Sin in its extreme of violence and rebellion is here overthrown, and the weapons struck from the hands of the rebelnot by the tyrant’s force, but by the gentleness of Divine love. “Where sin had abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). ‘Tis hard to kick against such goads. Condemnation hardens the rebel in his opposition; gentleness melts his heart and converts him into an ally and a friend. “O Galilean, thou hast conquered!” The conversion of Saul is a type of the whole spirit and method of the gospel. Unlike the kingdoms of this world, which rest on force and must repel violence by violence, it rests on the negation of force, the eternal affirmation of love. It is strong in its weakness, and converts foes into friends by gaining the victory over the intelligence and the conscience.J.

Act 9:10-19

Saul and Anaemias.

I. THE MINISTRY OF MAN TO MAN. After the direct revelation through the terror of the lightning and the thunderbolt, comes the mediate revelation through the familiar voice and manner of one’s fellow-man. Ananias is not an apostle; he is a disciple, a member of the Church simply, entrusted with no particular office or position. Possibly the reason for this was that Paul might not be dependent on any of the other apostles, tie was, he said, “an apostle, not from men nor by men, but by Jesus Christ.” But the general lesson is on the unofficial service of Christians to others. Officialism often brings Christianity into suspicion. The genuine service of private Christians is always of value and always an evidence of the Spirit of Christ.

II. THE HOPEFULNESS OF THE ACT OF PRAYER. The good disciple is directed to go to Saul, “for behold, he prayeth!” A pregnant word by which to describe the condition of a converted sinner. He prays; therefore he is no longer a persecutor of Jesus, but a captive of his grace, subject of his love. He prays; therefore his heart is emptied of its former hate towards the brethren, and is filled with meekness and charity. The expression also betokens the gracious mind of the speaker. The Lord looks down with pity on the broken heart prostrate before him in prayer. And the Church are in like manner to turn to him, as one though lost yet found, no longer a foe but a friend. “Behold, he prays!”

III. THE IMPRESSIONS ATTENDING CONVERSION. Saul has seen the messenger of Christ coming in and laying his hands on him that he may receive his sight. It is by its associations that any great event in the outward world or in the mind fixes itself on the memory. Paul was to look back upon those days as an inexhaustible fund of deepest spiritual impressions. He shall be able to say, “I received my office as apostle not from man but from Jesus Christ.” He shall be forever cured of his Pharisaic wisdom and pride of the flesh. He was not reasoned into Christianity, but the living Christ was revealed in him, in ways too manifold and various to be mistaken.

IV. THE STARTLING CHANGE OFTEN INVOLVED IN CONVERSION. Ananias hesitates. The acts of men are standing evidence of their disposition. What safer guide can we have? Yet the Divine voice quells the hesitation of Ananias. Saul is a chosen vessel, instrument, or tool, fashioned by the Divine hand and for the Divine purposes. In the mysterious world of the human heart all things are possible to Godeven as elsewhere. The volcanic fire which is working beneath the convulsions of the earthquake is a formative as well as a destructive agent. The passionate outbreaks of a man against a principle or a party are often a sign of internal change going on. Saul was to be fashioned as an instrument for the greatest work, perhaps, ever committed to manthe bearing of the Name, i.e. the message and doctrine of Christ to the Gentiles, to confront and shake the powers of the world with the power of the crucified One. Such a missionary must need no common training. He must have known the depths of the evil of his own heart, the heights of redeeming grace. That Christ could conquer the proud and stubborn Pharisee, and turn Saul into Paul, was a prophecy of the nature of his progressive conquests over mankind.

V. CHRIST‘S CHOSEN ONE CHOSEN FOR SUFFERING. (Act 9:16.) Christ will show the newly caned, not what things he is to enjoy, what honors he is to reap, but what things he must suffer. Never was prophet called of God without some adumbration of future suffering, of struggle painful to flesh and blood. With us all there is something awful and repellent in the forms of duty. It is the “stern daughter of the voice of God.” Yet in obedience alone can we enjoy true freedom and the presence of God in the soul. And the greater the strength given, the greater will be the struggles imposed, the pain to be endured, the inner sense of joy and triumph to be experienced. To follow Christ truly is no soft and sentimental thingit is an enterprise which taxes manhood to its utmost. To him may be applied the words of the poet

“Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear

The Godhead’s most benignant grace;

Nor know we anything so fair

As is the smile upon thy face.”

VI. DELIVERANCE AND STRENGTH IMPARTED BY CHRIST. Ananias comes with his cheering message and his inspired acts to emancipate the body and soul of Saul.

1. He is to see again. The first view of new truth “blinds with excess of light.” Presently the scales fall, and the eyes are found to have new powers of perception. We may find a parable here. The exchange of fleshly wisdom and narrow views for spiritual insight and wide command of the field of vision scorns at first a loss. We can see nothing for a time; the old horizon has vanished. Presently the darkness lifts, the dawn appears; we are in a new scene, and “behold, all things are become new.”

2. He is to be filled with the Holy Ghost. The moment of the break-down of all our old system of thought and life is that of extreme weakness. It is that self-emptiness which is utterly painful, but prepares for the incoming and indwelling of Divine powerthe Holy Spirit.

3. Baptism as an epoch of life. It closes one era, it opens another. The putting on of Christthe essential thing in baptisminvolves renunciation on the one hand, fresh choice on the other. God sets us free that we may serve him.

“I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from rids hour.
Oh, let my weakness have an end I”

To live out in our own experience the call, and conversion, and initiation of Saul is to get to the heart of human nature and of the relation of Christ to that nature.J.

Act 9:19-25

Saul at Damascus.

I. HIS PREACHING. In those very synagogues where he had determined to make victims of the followers of Jesus, he was found owning and proclaiming his Name. And his proclamation was that Jesus was the Son of God. This was, perhaps, a new truth to the Christian Churchor at least in the clear recognition and definite expression it has nowand must have come with extraordinary power from lips that were learned and eloquent and charged with the profound conviction of one whose thoughts had undergone an entire revulsion. “I believe, therefore have I spoken.” The Divine Son; his life and love, his work for mankind;this is the heart of all Christian preaching.

II. THE EFFECTS OF HIS PREACHING. Astonishment at the change of feeling and of conduct in Saul. Astonishment breeds curiosity and gives rise to inquiry and information. Wonder at the extraordinary phenomena of nature is the parent of science. Wonder at the extraordinary phenomena in the kingdom of God gives birth to conviction and to reverence and piety. A change of heart and life is the standing moral miracle. When he whom we have known as passionate, proud, and fierce is seen to be meekly giving up all worldly advantages for the sake of a despised cause, counting things that had been good loss for the excellency of a new knowledge, it is an evidence not to be resisted. “Fool!” must have been the verdict of his friends of the Sanhedrim on his conduct. “For Christ’s sake” was the secret in the breast of Saul.

III. THE GROWTH OF SAUL IN POWER. Mighty is the energy of truth newly found and grasped, with power to nerve the will and impart influence over others. The man of convictions, and with the courage of them, is the true conqueror. Second-hand opinions and inherited prejudices cannot stand against original force in the moral sphere. This is the Christ: one man believed it with all his soul, and triumphed over the world in its hatred and ignorance. But the growth of moral power in an individual calls up the dark shapes of envy and jealousy. Secret and cowardly opposition is the compliment which passion offers, the testimony it bears to the forms of clear, calm truth. Malice lurks and lies in wait to destroy what it fears to encounter in the open field. Energy in diffusing light and truth will be certain to evoke a corresponding energy oat of the kingdom of darkness to obscure and to destroy. So did the storm gather about Saul’s devoted head. But the servants of God bear a charmed life until their work is done. Already the promise of the Savior, that Saul must suffer many things, is being fulfilled. In trouble and the deliverance out of it God is made known to our spirits as our God and our Savior.J.

Act 9:26-30

Saul’s visit to Jerusalem.

I. SUSPICION AND COLDNESS ENCOUNTERED. Saul finds no welcome at Jerusalem, no confidence, but distrust. It is hard to live down the records of past life. And never was the proud quondam Pharisee permitted to forget his lesson of humility. Well might this be the meaning of the “thorn in the flesh.” Our impression of the man is that of a fierce and impetuous temper, the force of which, having been used for the devil, was now to be used in the service of Christ. The genuineness of his conversion, Calvin remarks, is shown by the fact that, having been himself a persecutor, he can now endure persecution with calmness.

II. COMFORT IN A FRIEND. Yet Saul had a most sensitive and loving heart, yearning for sympathy, grateful for kindness and love. How full of meaning on another occasion his words, “God, who comforteth those that are east down, comforted us by the coming of Titus”! Then the affectionate Barnabas takes him by the hand, and performs the offices of friendship on his behalf. The scene carries its teaching on the nature and offices of friendship.

1. The friend takes us by the hand in the hour of need. His loyalty and courage compensate us for the coldness of the world. Who so self-reliant as not to need a sponsor on occasions? One draught of true human love will refresh us in the desert of others’ coldness. And doubtless, if we have been true to love, love will be found for us at the hour of need.

2. He will say for us what we cannot say for ourselves. Barnabas tells Saul’s story when Saul himself is not believed. The ideas of the Paraclete, or Advocate, of the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, of the Witness on our behalf, are found again in the highest Christian relations. Christ fulfils to the soul the highest ideal of friendship. Let the recollection of our dependence on ministry ever incline the heart to humility and correct the excess of self-reliance. Through Barnabas, Saul is received as a brother, and the old enmity and distrust is forgotten. To be obstinately set against old sinners, to refuse a kindly oblivion to the past, is to ignore the grace which delights to heal and to forgive.

III. FRESH DANGERS. Following in the steps of Stephen, Saul disputed with the Hellenists. There was a resurrection of the martyr’s spirit in the martyr’s murderer. Enmity is again aroused; again Saul’s life is in danger; and again, through friendly providence, the way of escape is opened. Thus through early combats, the Christian soldier’s courage is tried and experience is gained for future struggles.J.

Act 9:31-43

Works of peace.

It is a bright picture of happy and prosperous Church life that here opens. Peace “lay like a shaft of light athwart the land” of Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria. The work of edification, ever silent and sure like the growth of the tall palm, went on. There was the spirit of reverence and the sense of comfort and of joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit. That nation is happy whose life contributes few incidents that startle, changes that dismay, revolutions and wars that attract attention. Who can calculate the value of a day’s sunshine to the earth? Who can tabulate the results of a year’s peaceful intercourse? Quiet Church life is not resultless; and to obtain it demands and implies more of prayer and effort than that which is spasmodic and sensational.

I. THE VISIT OF PETER TO LYDDA. He finds there the paralytic AEneas. The bedridden sufferer may be viewed as a type of all prostration, physical and moral, which Christ comes to heal. “Jesus Christ is healing thee!” such is the abiding word of the Christian apostle and minister, further reaching in its application to the inward than to the outward life. And if it be a fact that healing energy is ever flowing from Christ, a moral hope and a moral energy is derivable from the fact. “Rise and act for thyself” is the command which the Christian minister may give, founded on the fact that the energy is imparted to the will in trust on Divine power. “And straightway he arose.” The rise of any soul out of weakness into strength, out of self-despair into confidence and freedom, implies two things

(1) the Divine agency to heal;

(2) the human will co-operating with the Divine. In the absence of either of these factors there is no transition from one state to another. Whenever such a conversion takes place and is observed, the minds of the spectators are turned towards that higher source of power. They “turn to the Lord” in reverent recognition, in devout thankfulness, in earnest expectation.

II. THE RAISING OF DORCAS.

1. The sketch of a useful life. Dorcas is full of good works and aims. The “eye for pity, and the hand open as day for melting charity,” was hers. Pity, compassion, the feeling for those who are less happy than ourselves, is the habit which above all the gospel teaches and cultivates in the soul. The loving simple heart has a place not less important to fill in ministry to others than the clear intellect and the powerful will. The tears and gratitude of the widows were a noble testimony to Dorcas and her character. She was a center of the true “sweetness and light” in the community, a fountain of pure Christian love. “In the possession of one such example a Church has a great spiritual capital. When such a one dies, God will raise up followers, for love never dies.”

2. The office of raising from the dead. Was not this entrusted to Peter, that it might be a parable to all times of this truththat God gives to chosen men in the Church the power to raise others out of death into life, that is, instrumentally? The Resurrection is spiritually repeated whenever the word of power reaches the conscience. Peter puts all the mourners out of the room, kneels down and prays. This was after the example of the Master. Solitude, silence, and prayer prepare for all exertion of spiritual activity. However great the power entrusted to the minister of God, he must still use it in dependence upon him. However urgent the call from men, the Divine will must first be consulted before it is obeyed. From dependence on God comes all independence of other conditions. To use the imperative mood with others, we must have learned the submissive mood before him. The word, “Tabitha, arise!” and the stretching out of the hand to the prostrate one,these acts had their antecedents in the spiritual sphere. We cannot comprehend a miracle; but we may be well assured that it follows a Divine though hidden law. God has reason in all his acts. In the giving of the lost but restored one again to her friends we have a prophecy of future restoration of those whom we have loved and lost. There arc moments when the power of God is put forth to realize our most loving wishes and to satisfy the unquenchable aspirations of the heart. Our friends “live in God” as Dorcas and Lazarus lived in him, and death is but a semblance for pious souls. Would that we had that profound knowledge of the power and love of God which should enable us to see the wondrous in the common! Faith will be produced and will be increased wherever our passage through the world, our visits and our words, are followed by a joy like that reflected on the Church at Joplin by the visit and ministry of Peter.J.

HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD

Act 9:1-9

The sign from heaven.

The state of the Church and the world calling for such a sign. The want of a greater spirit among the apostles, to undertake the new leadership as the gospel went forth to challenge the whole world. The awakening mind of the disciplesSamaria, Philip and the eunuch, Caesarea (Act 8:40), all pointed to a new epoch. The hour was there; but where was the man? Peculiar qualifications necessaryintellect; culture; burning zeal; personal experience of the power of Christ. Notice

I. THE CHALLENGE MET.

1. Saul represented persecution. A successful raid at Damascus would be a decisive blow at the new sect. Preparation made. If prisoners could be brought bound to Jerusalem, an appeal could be made to crush the heresy.

2. The challenge was made to the utmost. He was suffered to draw nigh to Damascus, and was surrounded by his fellow-persecutors.

3. The blow which struck him down was distinctly supernatural, a sign from heaven. Jesus did not fight with carnal weapons. He smote with “light out of heaven,” and a voice addressing the heart and conscience.

II. THE MAN CHOSEN AND CALLED.

1. His previous history showed the work of God’s Spirit. His question, “Who art thou, Lord?” His remembrance of Stephen and his words. His immediate submission.

2. The manner of Saul’s conversion a preparation of his soul for the part he was to take in the Church’s work. It was greatly independent of human agency. It was a miracle which to him became the moral basis of all other miracles. It enabled him to say, I have seen the Lord Christ;” and gave him at once an apostolic position.

3. The overwhelming nature of the evidence and the deep spiritual work of those few days prepared such a mind as Paul’s for grappling with the mysteries of faith. The eyes were shut that they might be opened the more clearly to spiritual realities. It was especially necessary that Saul should beau his new life feeling that Jesus was able to do all things, that he was revealing his Divine kingdom in the earth.

III. THE GRACE MANIFESTED.

1. The gentleness and compassion. The same stroke might have slain. The enemy was loved, not hated; the shame of his defeat partly hidden from onlookers.

2. The wonderful change wrought by the Spirit: the persecutor turned into the foremost apostle.

3. The gift of such a man to the Church and to the world. Think of what Paul has been to those who came after him. The treasures of knowledge, the marvels of personal history. Especially the fact of his conversion itself as an evidence of the truth of Christianity. Lord Lyttelton and many others convinced by it. Standing miracle which no one can resist except by subterfuge. The effect on the Church at the time and on the Jewish world. A great conversion is always a great converting power.

APPLICATION.

1. There is a gate of grace close by the gate of sin. Paul was going to Damascus to do evil. Jesus met him to turn him on the path of life.

2. The new world may be entered blindfold, yet if we do what the Lord tells us to do our eyes will be opened at last.R.

Act 9:10-19

Baptism of St. Paul.

While the conversion was independently of human agency, the new life awakened was immediately called up by Divine appointment into fellowship with the life of the Church. The baptism is here plainly a Divine seal upon the individual, an invitation to the privileges of the Church, a consecration to higher life and service.

I. THE CHOSEN VESSEL MARKED OUT BY THE LORD. By the supernatural signs

1. The vision; the communication of Ananias and its results; the opened eyes of the new convert.

2. The introduction of Saul among the circle of believers at Damascus. They would receive him as not only a converted man, but one of whom the Lord predicted such things.

II. THE TWO BRETHREN UNITED IN PRAISE.

1. The joy of Ananias over Saul; the joy of Saul in the salutation of brotherly love.

2. An answer to prayer. Darkness turned to light.

3. A release from the captivity of an anxious solitude. Such a mind needed quickly to be delivered from the danger of too great a reaction. The sympathy of an experienced Christian with a young convert is unspeakably precious. The introduction to Ananias was an introduction to the Church at Damascus, which, while no doubt wholly Jewish, was yet prepared by its training in that city for the reception of such a man. They would be less startled then at the announcement that he would go to the Gentiles. Thus God works all things according to the good pleasure of his will. The converted Saul opens his eyes in Damascus.

III. SPECIAL CONSECRATION of the newly won soul to higher service by the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

1. The baptism was an acceptance on Saul’s part of the Lord’s commission. He knew that he would have much to do for Christ. He remembered the past and desired to make up for it by entire devotedness to him whom he had persecuted.

2. Extraordinary conversion is a preparation for extraordinary service.

The days of darkness are days of wrestling prayer. The foundations of the new life were laid deep. Augustine; Luther; Bunyan; Chalmers. Grace abounding to one who has felt himself the chief of sinners becomes abounding strength to do the Lord’s work. Preachers who have no deep experience to fall back upon cannot speak to the hearts of others. 3. The special gifts of the Holy Ghost bestowed through the ministration of Ananias. A miraculous power at once descended on Saul, and he felt himself lifted out of the ordinary current of his life and set in a higher level of experience and faculty.R.

Act 9:12

A spiritual wonder.

“Behold, he prayeth!” “Behold!” The Church, the world, invited to look on the sight. The enemy, the Pharisee, the warrior, behold his hands clasped in prayer, countenance bathed in tears, voice uttering petitions. Look into that house of Judas; it might have been filled with mourning; it is the scene of a spiritual victory. We can look back and look forward; what he was, what he will be. Great mercy in the blinding stroke, shutting him up in his own thoughts. His cry was, “What wilt thou have me to do?” Gracious answer to the prayer. Contrast between the prayers which Saul of Tarsus had previously offered, and that worthy prayer of penitence and faith. Every event the summing up of the past and prophecy of the future, like a seed which represents former and following harvests. Epochs in spiritual history which face both ways. A representative fact; “Behold it!” “he prayeth.”

I. A GREAT SPIRITUAL CHANGE.

1. In the mind. Thoughts of Jesus. Acceptance of Messiahship. Overthrow of legalism. Satisfaction of understanding in the Divine authority manifested. Exaltation of Israel. We must be changed in our thoughts. “What think ye of Christ?”

2. In the heart. The persecutor penetrated with the feeling of Divine love. The perverse will, kicking against conscience, against the reproach which like a goad was left by the remembrance of Stephen’s death. Personal sense of sin the root of a true conversion. “I am the man.”

3. In the conduct. Obedience to the heavenly vision. Tractable as a child; led by the Spirit. The prayer recounts that his face was turned towards the new way. Christianity not a mere change of views or sentiments, but a proclaimed rule of life. Walk in the way. Obedience.

II. AN EPOCH IN SPIRITUAL HISTORY. Little could Saul foresee his own future, yet that Peniel was the introduction of a prince of God to his kingdom. What a step from the chamber in Judas’s house at Damascus to Rome’s imperial palace!

1. Prayer the preparation for activity. Jesus in the mountain solitude. All great spiritual heroes before they have gone down into the battle-field.

2. Prayer the lifting up of the fallen. Peace with God. Reopened eyes. A blotted-out past. The goads of conscience exchanged for the light of a new life, the message of a reconciled Father, the commission of the heavenly King to his chosen ambassadors.

3. Prayer the pledge of fellowship. He prayeth; go and pray with him. Private prayer and public prayer closely connected together. Religion is not a secret thing. “Behold!” We should take knowledge of the state of souls around us. Those that feel prompted to secret prayer should welcome the visit of the Christian brother, and the appeal to take the Name of Christ upon them, and the place which is appointed us both in the fellowship and work of the Church.R.

Act 9:19-22

The new convert proving his sincerity.

I. THE GRACE OF GOD ELEVATING THE NATURAL MAN. Characteristics of Saul appearing in the new phase of his life.

1. Intelligence. He is ready to grapple with subtle antagonists, lie seizes the great central truth of the gospelthe Messiahship of Jesus. He employs his vast knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures.

2. Boldness and energy. Not even waiting for opportunity, but making it; entering the synagogues, producing amazement by his vehemence.

3. Self-surrender to Christ, as before consuming zeal for the Law. Where he was expected as the persecutor, there he appears as the convert. All sense of shame swallowed up in devotion to Christ.

II. THE TRUE METHOD OF SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. tie “increased the more in strength.”

1. Conviction deepens by speaking. Many lose strength by remaining silent. Work for Christ lifts up the heart. The idle ones doubt; the active ones are cheerful.

2. The sense of victory a great help, both to individuals and the Church. A bold aggressive policy specially demanded. In proving the doctrine, we must advance into the midst of the opponents. Especially should those that can speak of great grace not be ashamed of Jesus. Personal testimonies have remarkable power. Let the world be amazed.

3. The gifts of the Spirit should not be restrained. Something for each one to do. If we cannot speak, we can proclaim Christ by the active life of benevolence. The disciples at Damascus gained great strength from the example of Saul. An earnest Church creates an earnest minister, and an earnest minister an earnest Church.R.

Act 9:23, Act 9:24

The new faith exposed to trial.

All manifestations of God’s Spirit stir up the opposition of the evil one. The bold faith drives back the enemy into ambush. Conspiracy against truth always means confession of weakness. The false Church takes counsel to kill. But God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.

I. CONSIDER THE EFFECT UPON SAUL HIMSELFOn his faith, on his future, on his spirit, as preparing him for suffering and humiliation for Christ. We never know what our religion is to us till we suffer for it and feel what it is in suffering.

II. CONSIDER THE EFFECT ON THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. The persecutor persecuted. The faith of the new convert shown to be strong enough to stand such a trial. The seal of the Lord put upon his servant. He was dealt with as many of the prophets. We must remember that we “fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for his Body’s sake, which is the Church.” Be patient.R.

Act 9:26-30

The Church’s seal upon the new acquisition.

Jerusalem. Its influence on all the Church. Natural doubt of the change. Difference between the character of Saul and that of the leading apostles. Barnabas fitted to be a mediator, both by his loving disposition and large-mindedness as a Cypriot.

I. A simple, candid DECLARATION OF PACTS the true foundation of confidence. Spiritual men cannot resist the evidence of the Spirit.

II. BROTHERLY SYMPATHY may accomplish much in times of perplexity, both in helping us to overcome natural feeling and in facilitating personal intercourse.

III. THE TRUE CHRISTIAN LABOURER will prove his own work. Let the facts speak for themselves. Preach boldly, and all must acknowledge the Lord’s presence.

IV. AFFLICTIONS HELP FELLOWSHIP AND MUTUAL CONFIDENCE.R.

Act 9:31

Edification.

“Then had the Churches rest,” etc. (of. Revised Version). The events of the past had been exciting, stimulating activity, spreading the Word. But excitement cheeks growth in character. Wonderful appointment of Providencethe leader of the persecution becoming the chief example of Christian activity.

I. THE RIGHT USE OF A TIME OF PEACE AND REST.

1. The cultivation of brotherly intercourse. The Churches (or the Church) throughout Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee, in a time of peace, could communicate with the apostles and with each other.

2. The exercise of spiritual gifts, knowledge, prophecy, tongues, etc., the study of Scriptures, especially with a view to future claims on the Church’s activity.

3. The manifestation of steadfast Christian character: “Walking in the fear of the Lord.” The times of external danger less suited for the observation of individual graces.

II. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST A SPIRITUAL EDIFICE. The foundation is Christ. The superstructure is:

1. Eminently simple; not a hierarchy, not a complicated system of ecclesiastical office; not an imitation of civil society, but the amplification of the germ seen in the upper room at Jerusalem.

2. Spiritual. Full of the Holy Ghost; not built up with worldly materials; maintaining discipline, purity, fellowship.

3. Multiplied from within, not from without; by its own graces coming forth on the world; not by mere accession of material resources or combination with worldly elements. Take care that our multiplication is genuine.R.

Act 9:32-35

Wonderful ministry of the Apostle Peter.

Introduction to what is about to be describedthe extension of the apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. “Peter went through all quarters,” i.e. where there were already Churches of believers. The general superintendence of the apostles was not in the way of despotic rule, but brotherly guidance. Situation of Lydda on the way to Joppa and so to Caesarea. But Peter’s intention went no further than Joppa, i.e. not beyond the limits of present fellowship. The Holy Ghost leads him further. The healing of the palsied AEneas a sign to the neighborhood.

I. JESUS CHRIST THE SUBSTANCE OF THE APOSTLE‘S MINISTRY. The servant behind the Master.

II. THE TESTIMONY OF MAN ACCOMPANIED BY THE POWER OF GOD. Miracles were accessory as proclaiming the kingdom of Christ in distinction from a mere message of preachers. AEneas the healed man would preach the Word with power.

III. THE RAPID SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD A WITNESS TO THE APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY OF PETER. They “turned to the Lord,” but were doubtless introduced to the Church through the apostle. The record is preserved that Peter’s position may be understood. There is no necessity to accept the Roman Catholic view of Peter’s supremacy; but it is necessary to maintain the apostolic guidance and leadership of the early Church, otherwise the New Testament itself loses its authority.R.

Act 9:36-43

The raising of Dorcas.

The contrast between the ancient and modern world, changing somewhat the relation of almsdeeds to the rest of Christian life; but the poor always with us. The special province of woman in the Church. The individuality of the charity, not a society, but Dorcas the woman.

I. FAITH WORKING BY LOVE.

1. Show that Dorcas was not a mere philanthropic worker, but a true believer.

2. The disciples at once sent for Peter, believing that he represented a Divine power at work, hoping that something might be accomplished, at all events believing that the Spirit of the Lord would cast out the gloom of their sorrow.

3. It was an atmosphere of true faith in which such a miracle could be wrought.

4. The character and work of Dorcas typical of the influence of Christianity in the world; distinguishing it from all other religions; caring for the weak, lifting up women, sanctifying sorrow.

II. THE THRESHOLD OF THE GENTILE WORLD. Peter many days-at Joppa. A place where a vast and mingled population. The raising of the dead a great sign both to the world and to Peter himself. The loving character of the new doctrine set forth; a special appeal to the heathen. The rapid spread of the gospel an immense encouragement and elevation of the apostle’s mind. All preparing him for the revelation about to be made. Peter and Dorcas hand-in-hand at the gate of the Gentiles, full of significance. We shall lay hold of the outlying masses of the population by Dorcas-like activity. Women will wonderfully help in the spread of Christianity. The true power of Christ is that which ministers.R.

HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER

Act 9:1-5

The one question of conversion.

With this paragraph the landmark of the history changes. The conspicuous figure of Paul is seen, and is not again lost to sight till a certain Lord’s day morning dawns on the Isle Patmos. The differences that exist in the life and lot of various men often awaken thought in those who think enough, oftener envy or murmur in those who fail to think enough. It is a ‘notable token of the character of such envy that, when excited, it is almost invariably in those instances which show differences of worldly lot or providential circumstance. But amid all the differences that might legitimately surprise, none can for a moment compare in intrinsic significance with that which gave, still gives, ever will give, undying renown to Saulthat he is, and is set forth as the type of conversion. He stands before us as remarkable in many waysas an apostle; as a writer of many Epistles, ever studied, never wearied of; as a first missionary to the Gentiles, and most bold preacher of the gospel; as the planter and settler of so many primitive Churches far and wide; and as a man of such endurance and of so many hairbreadth escapes, that men would say for the one he had an iron constitution, for the other he wore a charmed life. But he is most known, he is apparently most intended to be known, by just what belongs to his conversion. The tale of Saul without his conversion (which he repeats within our knowledge twice for himself, how many times more we cannot say) would be an instance, and in the intensest form too, of the play of ‘Hamlet’ without Hamlet. Would that there were those, and many of them, who, coveting “the best gifts,” coveted this unworldly distinctionthe thoroughness, the conspicuousness, the ever-enduring practical results of such a conversion! But how unusual is this ambition! The prominence given to the conversion of Saul cannot mean less than this, that it is a sample. Yet is it not put where it is to stand there in solitary unique grandeur, inapproachable, but that it may be approached, studied, reproduced. Let us look into it at the moment of its crisis, the moment when such unwonted words started to the lips of Saul, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

I. IN THIS QUESTION IS FOUND THE OUTSPOKEN CONFESSION OF PAST DARKNESS, IGNORANCE, MISTAKE. Conversion reveals to a man, not only many other very important things, as time goes on, of which he had never dreamt, but it surprisingly persuades him of this to begin withthat he does not know something which he thought he did know perhaps thought he knew particularly well. What an astonishing thing to hear Saul asking, of all other questions, such a one as this, “Who art thou, Lord? ‘This is a great point to gain. Saul had thought he did know this, and knew that Jesus was not one to be called his “Lord” or “Lord” at all.

1. He had put his own idea and his own impression on Christ; but not the right ones, and of the right he was ignorant and destitute. How many do this! No name, perhaps, better known to them than the Name of Jesus, no nature less known or more mistaken. It is the darkness which belongs

(1) to nature;

(2) to willful neglect and habit.

2. The very wrongness of those ideas and impressions were the measure of the persistency with which they were held and the intemperateness with which they were expressed. Paul afterwards tells us this “I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth,” and he developed his “thought” into the acts of violent persecution. But when Saul utters the cry of the text it is because he is just beginning the escapethe escape of his life, the escape for his lifefrom that long dark mistake, that native delusion and ignorance. And afterwards he does not excuse his wrong “thought,” but condemns himself with deepest contrition as “the chief of sinners.” Saul was utterly in the wrong before his conversion; and is not every one else utterly in the wrong until his conversion? What a solemn responsibility this one thing is in life, to make up the mind how to think, to speak, to act towards Christ!

II. IN THIS QUESTION IS FOUND THE EVIDENCE OF THE AWAKENING OF A NEW AND KEEN DESIRE.

1. Past darkness and mistake (specially in proportion to its moral blamableness), not only may incur the deep-settled habit, but they generally do so. They strangle, till they kill, anything like a natural healthy desire for real light, real knowledge. They seem to be able to go to the length of destroying the power for its further use on earth. Then what a power it must be that is needed to speak life, strength, use again into that palsy!

2. The one unvarying testimony of Scripture witnesses to one great silent Power, alone able “to create a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit” within man. It is that great Power which wakens again in the deep disused of human nature the keen desire to know, the relish of true knowledge, the thirst for light and love and the liberty of Christ. As on that day so eventful Saul journeyed in hot haste over the hot sands to Damascus, but with raging heart hottest of all, a new future is opening for him, for a new future is opening in him, ere yet the echoes of his brief question die on the air. When in the intolerable blaze of that bright light that passed the brilliance of the noonday sun he fell to the earth, and when the heavenly voice of the risen One twice summoned him, “calling him by his name,” it may well be that, if there were anything to waken after too long sleep confessed, it now should “hear and live.” And it was so. Some power has reached and touched the vital germ within, yet unextinct, and it owns to the sudden impulse. There is no more genuine evidence of God’s mighty Spirit being savingly at work than when every hindrance, every excuse, every delay, falls back, and you press on simply to ask for Christ. Then human nature’s want, sin, misery, are arrived at the door of Heaven’s infinite wealth, happiness, willingness. Keen is the force of human appetite and keener the edge of passion; keen are our worldly desires and keener our mad wrath; but keenest of all and ever conquering is the force of the desire to know Christ, when it is the Spirit of God who puts it into the heart and kindles its flame. And does not this sample-conversion history guide us most closely to see what are the Spirit’s real ways with our natures, which need first obstructions removed, and thereupon force and life restored? The treatment shall be such as reveals to him who experiences it at one glance the world of darkness and error and sin that has been so long within, but close upon that tells him of new, strange, and blessed life astir within also.

III. IN THIS QUESTION IS DISCERNIBLE THE HUMBLED AND ALARMED SELF TURNING ]ROUND AND BECOMING REALLY READY TO EXERCISE A SIMPLE, DEEP TRUST. HOW many ‘hope” they are ready “think” they are ready, have some sort and some amount of “wish” to be ready, but of whom all the truth is, they are not really ready to trust Christ! They are not really ready to cast themselves on mercy, nor to acknowledge that “this is the work they have to do,” namely, “to believe on him whom God hath sent.” They are not yet really ready to believe that salvation is to be had by trust and not by any other way; by trust in Christ, and trust illimitable. Yet is there no surer, no safer article of all our faith. And healthy life and fruit are only where faith is rooted in Christ, and root to finest tendril and branch to finest twig do all derive their nourishment and their sap from him. So Saul’s question and the sharp, direct method of it signify then, evidently enough, both the hopeful and the trustful state into which he had come, or was ready immediately “by the grace of God” to come. Men sometimes ask a question indifferent to its answer; they sometimes ask a question for the sake of the merest information; they sometimes ask a question for some critical purpose or to block a question waiting on themselves; but this question was none of these. This is like a question indeed. Angels listen to it, and listen to its answer too, to ring out Heaven’s wild “Amen.“ Jesus listened, and a soul was saved. Travel, then, the circle of “the earth and the world” and “the heavens,” and there is not a question we could address to any or all of them which could equal the momentousness of thin, when, at last turning to Christ, a man asks, “Who art thou, Lord?” To Jesus Saul had borne himself ever so proudly, as many, many do nowtheir will ungiven to him, their trust flitting everywhere else but not settled on him, their love and allegiance unyielded to him; and when he, even he, asked, “Who art thou, Lord?” it meant the coming down for ever of pride. So the confession which we have seen to hide here, and the keen desire we have seen to bud forth here, led to the utter renunciation of self-trust, and to the simplest and most entire trust in Christ. None can ask this question for you; you must ask it yourself. None can answer it but Jesus, and he will answer it.B.

Act 9:5

The considerateness era love already infinite.

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” [Note.There is ample evidence that Paul himself narrates these details of his conversion (Act 26:14), and that their proper place is not here. They will, however, be considered here, and reference made to this place from Act 22:1-30. 10; Act 26:14.] Saul, when now he was called Paul, and after he had been some while in the service of Christ, himself tells us what passed in those wonderful moments when Christ and the Spirit wrestled with him thrown prostrate to the earth. They are never forgotten by him, nor will he for a moment try to hide those details describing Heaven’s remonstrances with him where they might most infer humiliation to himself. The humiliation of Saul at this time has its counterpart in some sort in the condescending-ness of Christ. The risen Lord will still use human language and human figure, even to employing a proverb. The proverb needs no explanation, and the interpretation of it needs only illustration and enforcement. And it may be led up to profitably by inferior applications of it which none will gainsay. How, then, will they be able to gainsay that illustration of it and that application of it which Jesus himself thinks it worth while to utter from an open window of heaven?

I. IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST THE EARTHLY LOT ASSIGNED TO US. That lot is a very complex thing, but it is made up of some very manifest elements. It is a combination of the date in time’s long calendar at which our life is placed, of the bodily and the mental endowments which we own, of the circumstances and surroundings which we inherit, and of the very dispositions which belonged to those who went before usour parents’ and theirs. None can give any account of these elements, but every man has to use them and to seek to use them to the best advantage. Some of them no man ever finds fault with or murmurs because of them, or most rarely. Very, very few ever complain that they live now, for instance, and did not live long agothat they live now and not rather a century or two hence. They see, they feel that to do this were insanity itself: and they do not kick against their lot in this respect. Yet they often do in other respects. Well, this is hardhard as for the bird of plumage to beat against the wires of its cage; nay, harder far than that. It is hard for loss of time, for loss of temper, for loss of strength, for loss of trusting loving obedience, and because no good can come of it, no success can be gained in the vain, Utopian, and worse than foolish struggle. Let every man struggle in his lot to improve himself, and he will not fail to improve it also. But let him never “kick” against it; for so, if hurt at all, he hurts himself the more. He “kicks against the pricks.”

II. IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST DUTY. The discipline of duty may often be painful at present. There is none, however, more strengthening and health-giving. Many a heavy burden becomes lighter if borne manfully. It always becomes more irritating in proportion as it is not willingly taken up and borne. And duty knows how to take keen revenge. When its obligations are only partially and grudgingly discharged, the penalty it assigns is the misery of utter dissatisfaction; and when they are altogether neglected, the penalty is a forfeiture of unknown amount and kind.

III. IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST CONSCIENCE. If the conscience is alive and in full life, to sin against it in both disobeying it and also taking the offensive, makes its reproach tenfold. If it be already half dead, it hastens its destruction for the present life; and if it be “on the point of death,” the death-stroke now falls.

IV. IT IS HARD TO KICK AGAINST ANY FORCE THAT IS PLAINLY GREATER IN DEGREE OR THAT IS SUPERIOR IN KIND. If it be only greater in degree, the peril lies in the inevitable mercilessness of the opponent. He holds the vain struggler in his grip. And if it be a greater force because it is superior in kind, then he who struggles, struggles “against his own soul,” and drives the deadly disease within.

V. But all these are faint warnings of what hardness may mean, WHEN A MAN‘S SOUL AND ETERNAL LIFE, CHRIST AND THE SPIRIT, are on the one side; and the man himself, driven in darkness, error, and recklessness, is on the other.

1. It is hard, intrinsically so, hard on every account and in every bearing of it, to go against the interest of your own soul. The soul is so inestimably valuable, the injury so inestimably cruel. Eternal life is so unboundedly to be desired, the loss of it so unboundedly to be dreaded and wailed over. Saul was doing this very thing, beneath all other guise and disguise, when his career was stopped. If he could have had his way, his way shut him right out from “life, life eternal,” and led him straightest path to death. And all the while he had been resisting light and evidence, miracles and signs and mighty wonders of apostles and of Stephen, which had availed with others; he was kicking against the highest welfare and interests of himself. Convictions are some of our strongest friends, and to kick against them is to inflict some of the keenest of pain and most cruel of injury upon self.

2. It is hard, essentially so, to resist the hand as kind as it is strong, as strong as it is kind, of Jesus. “Strong to save” is, indeed, his truest name and his best-loved name. But if he is to the last refused in this force, it must be, alas! he is swift to destroy. It is especially hard to resist Jesus:

(1) Because he means nothing but kindness.

(2) Because his meaning makes no mistake, incurs no slip nor charge of good intention only, and he does nothing but kindness.

(3) Because he first did so much and suffered so much for one only purposethat he might be qualified to show that kindness to the full.

(4) Because his is the initiative always, in proffering that kindness to those whose initiative always is the front of hostility to himself.

(5) Because all his kind meaning and his kind doing are in the train of perfect knowledge. He knows all that we shall want to bear us through and to bear us up on high, all that we shall want to save us from falling through and falling into “the lowest hell.” What folly we often observe it to be to stand up against or to neglect knowledge superior to our own! But oh! but what extent and what kind of superior knowledge is this?

“No eye but his might ever bear

To gaze all down that drear abyss,

Because none ever saw so clear

The shore beyond of endless bliss!”

“The giddy waves so restless hurled,
The vexed pulse of this feverish world,
He views and counts with steady sight,
Used to behold the Infinite!”

(6) Because him refused, him lost, there is no other can plead our cause in our last extremity, there is no other Savior! When such a one speaks, touches, urges, then the sinner who resists him is one who has no mercy, no mercy at all on himself, “body or soul.”

3. It is hard, most ruinously so, to resent the persuading address of the Spirit. Hardening as it is to neglect the lessons of reason, the persuasions of the affection of others, the call of duty, the dictates of conscience, and the Word and work and impassioned invitation of Jesus, this is the worst of allto resist and reject the Spirit. For he is the life itself. Light and Life are his twofold name. All round creation light will be attended ere long with symptoms of life; and nowhere round the whole sweep of creation does consent to dwell with perfect darkness. They seem almost synonymous, perhaps, but as they are not the same in nature, so neither can they be counted the same in grace. And still, therefore, this twofold name speaks something of the quality and prerogative of the Spirit. He brings Christ himself and his truth and his cross to the sinner’s heart, and if he is refused, then finally all is refused. Hence the awful trembling emphasis which Scripture lays on the pleading exhortation that we slight not, grieve not, quench not, the Spirit. And hard indeed it must be counted to“ kick against him.”

(1) He is so silent a Friend.

(2) He is so gentle a Friend,

(3) He is so close a Friend.

(4) He is so sensitive a Friend.

(5) He is so condescending a Friendin him it is that God dwells in the humble and contrite sinner’s heart.

(6) He is so cheerful and gladdening and sanctifying a Friend.

(7) He more than halves our griefshe dries them up. He more than doubles our joyhe multiplies it a millionfold, till it is already “full of glory.” His sympathy is perfect.

(8) He is our indispensable Friend, if we are to be loosed from sin, to be created anew, to take hold of Jesus, and to find salvation. Against the united, loving, determined, and predetermined force of Jesus and the Spirit, ’twas hard indeed for Saul to strive. Love and. power amazing grace!have hold upon him nor mean to relax their gracious grasp If he struggles, he but prolongs his own fierce inner conflict, multiples his own subsequent pangs of memory and conscience. So Saul and every converted man are in a hand from which no power shall ever pluck them.B.

Act 9:6

The act of capitulation.

The moment had come for Saul. His conversion is a fact accomplished. He speaks to it by speaking its reliable evidences. Short, undoubtedly sharp, and as it now appears decisive, had the conflict within been, but it is now over. And the fight over finds out the two resultsthe soldier unwounded and the victory won. The moment had come also for Jesus. What preparations his had been! What work he had accomplished! What “sufferings” he had endured! What shame he had borne! And his mighty power and mightier love have now triumphed. He too has his victory, has taken, and without blood, his captive, and has bound that captive to him, a willing captive for ever and ever. That moment of double victoryof Jesus over the human heart, and of a man’s better over his worse self by the grace of the Spirittwo victories, yet but one, is described by one of the best of our sacred hymn-writers, and could scarcely be better set forth

“‘Tis done! the great transaction’s done!

I am my Lord’s and he is mine!

He called me and I followed on,

Glad to confess the voice Divine.”

The question on Saul’s lip (in the text) speaks, we say, the sure moment of his conversion. Much may prepare the way for that momentthought and feeling, honest doubt and dishonest, fear and shame and strife, convictions stifled, purposes dishonored, resolutions broken, and perversest kicking against the pricks. But these are but the always mournful, often shameful, last show of sword-play of the wicked one, who knows no pity for the subject he is so soon to lose, and when he must leave his old abode would then most discredit it. And therefore in this question, may we not find in simplest, clearest outline, the suggestions of what are the real facts involved in conversion? They are

I. THE DISTINCT RESIGNING OF TRUST IN SELF. That surrender will mean the surrender of:

1. Self-guidance.

2. Much more of self-will, the determination that self shall rule and shape all.

3. The works of self.

4. The loved ends that have only self or self supremely in view.

5. Must of all, the last remnant of an idea that self can procure its own salvation. For here is a man who possibly less leaned on fellow-creature than any other man who ever lived. But let him come to know Jesus, and his first question thereupon is the childlike, leaning, humble question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

II. THE TAKING UP AND PLAIN PROFESSION OF UNDIVIDED ALLEGIANCE TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. The converted is not all at sea. That is what he once was, but not what he is now. He has not to seek and calculate between different and competing matters. That was once large part of his deep-seated unease and dissatisfaction, when “other lords many had dominion over him.” But now he knows to whom his undivided allegiance belongs. That undivided allegiance takes him to Jesus Christ as:

1. Unrivaled and undisputed Teacher. He sees, knows, feels, that Jesus has won this place all his ownthe one grand Revealer of the deepest things of the Spirit in man and of the state of man and of the future for man. And all other knowledge he feels to be necessarily subordinate to this.

2. Perfect Example. No sculptured model so perfect for example as the delineated character, the written life of Jesus, the impress that is made on the attentive observer of his work and word and manner. Here is the sculptor seen, indeed, and his sculpture worth the studying. And Christ’s true convert will be this kind of true student of him also. He will well know the place at his feet, and his own right attitude as he sits there watching.

3. Master and Lord. He will feel that his strength and devotion belong to him. “What has he done for me and what for him shall I not do?”

4. One alone Savior. Whatever his trust or hope for his own future life and for his soul may once have been, he finds all now in “Jesus only.” And if he were conscious of, careful for none at all before, now how earnestly he clings to Jesus, because of this”Savior” his dearest name, “mighty to save” his dearest attraction! Oh, with what passionate adoration of gratitude and of love did Paul sing, and since him unnumbered millions of others have sung it, “My dear Redeemer and my Lord”! Thus Saul, in his first allegiance to Jesus, calls him “Lord,” and asks him nothing else but as to what are his instructions: “What wilt thou have me to do?”

III. THE ALTERED PRACTICAL LIFE. Conversion means a changed heart, changed thoughts, changed feeling, a changed air and light. But it means nothing if it do not mean also a genuinely, practically changed career. No sublime enjoyment, no rich experience, no flight of sanctified imagination, no foretaste in saintly, heavenly communings with unseen realities, of “the joys” that are to come, shall satisfy Jesus, nor can satisfy Scriptures conception and representation of the convert of Christ. His life must be “Christ;” and he must await death to know his full “gain.“ His life must be a witness to Christ, albeit it be first strong witness against his old past self, and ever a quiet rebuke of those who live not after the same rule. The amazement and the solemn dread of those minutes of blindness and strongest excitement, when Saul lay on the earth, and was already summoned as it were to the bar of his Maker, did not prevent him, as a true convert and as type of a true convert, asking for his practical work. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” In our ignorance, perhaps we should, a priori, have thought a more reasonable question, a more modest question, a more reverent question, might have been, “Lord, where wilt thou have me to go”go hide myself? “Where wilt thou have me go,” that I may shed bitter tears and do penance for the past. “Where wilt thou have me go,“ that I may pass through the fires of some purgatory, and be proved by some solemn ordeal? But no, the question cannot be mistaken, misreported, or altered. It is, “What wilt thou have me to do? And Jesus tells him, and does not say new, “This is the work of God, that you believe on me.” He tells him, and it proves very shortly, how really he had “to do,” to “spend and be spent,” “to labor more abundantly than they all,” and to prove his conversion by his changed life and its fruits. For vain, unspeakably vain, the profession of a changed heart and the hopes of Christ and of heaven, without the proof that lies in the changed life.B.

Act 9:9

The sequestrated soul.

In the wonders of the conversion of Saul we are greatly impressed with the close regard paid to the needs of human nature. It is not all miracle, nor must it be so viewed. Amazing is the grace of what cannot be construed as anything less than superhuman intervention. An adoring surprise is certainly not diminished when we notice how that intervention condescends so soon, so readily, to make itself at home with the harmonies of human nature. It does not affect to disdain them, nor doe, it dispense with them, because of the majesty of its own omnipotence, but rather emphatically “condescends to the low estate of men.” For the experience of intense excitement through which Saul had just passed is sure, upon the reckonings of human nature by itself, to be decisive of his future. If it do not make him, it will most surely undo him for ever. He may “be exalted above measure” or he may be depressed “above measure.” Either of these two extremes is a constant result in human life of whatever might come nearest to such excitement and impression as those here described. In the presence of a position so critical, it does not follow that nature is entirely helpless nor that miracles must be implored. In succeeding degrees repose, silence, even darkness will be prescribed, and we shall be told unerringly that life or death is the alternative issue of attending upon such prescription or neglecting it. And this is a principle observed in the marvels of the conversion of Saul. That which may be viewed as proof of intervention superhuman does its short, sharp work, to be followed by the immediate resumption of methods which human wisdom and human experience would dictate. The experience of Saul here narrated may be regarded as it was

I. THE CONSEQUENCE OF DEEP MENTAL, SPIRITUAL IMPRESSION. No doubt the exceeding brightness of the “light that shined about him from heaven” may be credited with a natural power to infer the blinding of his eyes. But the same light “fell round about them that journeyed with” Saul, and they saw that light (see the accounts in Act 22:1-30., 26.), and yet it had no blinding effect upon themat all events no effect of the kind lasting three days. In fact, for Saul it was but the signal of the light that flashed upon the inner eye that belonged to him. But it is of God, and At is not below the Spirit of God to assert and to prove the completest mastery over manbody, soul, and spirit. And the continued loss of sight and the continuous fast are justly regarded as the result of the deep mental, spiritual impression now made on Saul. That impression was of the nature of:

1. The shock of inordinate surprise. Not an idea, not a fear, not the vaguest surmise had come near the strong horseman of such an arresting check.

2. The shock of overmatched force. The weak and tender and gentle will yield and bend. It is a matter of breaking to others, and if the heart break not, who can imagine the strain? That heart will be rocked to its foundation.

3. The shock of a flood of mental conviction, and so far forth illumination, breaking in upon an estranged nature and terrifying by the dark shadows it casts proportioned to its own luster.

4. The shock of the rapid rising of the tides of penitential grief, and grief that energetically stirs up repentance.

5. The shock of compunction for ingratitude and all the past hostility of a hating heart when mercy began to dawn and love began to be born.

6. The shock of one mere glimpse through the merest chink of the sepulchral soul into the outer and upper and most inspiring light.

7. The shock of a real change. What busy but amazed, aching, anguished tumult within that soul! And who shall stay bodily sense and bodily appetite from resigning and retreating from that scene and confessing themselves merely the subordinate and temporary?

II. THE GRACIOUS PROVISION OF DIVINE THOUGHT FOR YET DEEPER IMPRESSION AND FOR LASTING RESULT. Very strong impressions, if made very rapidly, may very rapidly pass away. Explain it as we may or leave it unexplained, the fact is too well ascertained. How very vivid sometimes the dream that visits us! how exceedingly difficult to throw it off for the first minutes of waking! but after those few first minutes are past, no mist climbed the mountain-side, nor morning cloud the heaven, quicker to vanish than that dream and its impression vanish. And so it is evident that everything is not necessarily gained or surely gained when vivid effects, ay, effects howsoever vivid, are gained.

1. Vivid impression needs the staying effect of reflection.

2. Vivid impressions which are also of the most startling personal character need the conciliating influences of some calm familiarity with them. They must be faced, must be looked at so that they may be recognized again, must be granted the opportunity of revealing their lovely aspects as well as their bright or powerful aspects.

3. The vivid impressions that belong to a heart touched by the Spirit of God particularly demand to dwell a while with that Spirit, and dwell as though quite alone with him,

(1) that he may be honored;

(2) that he may work his work amid the absorbed and the undivided, undistracted attention of that human heart. In what ineffable communion with the Father supreme, with the Savior and Mediator Jesus, and with eternal realities, will the Spirit then engage the yielding heart! It is not that the Spirit cannot work apace, but, as in everything else, it is that man cannothe is slow, slow indeed, as compared with that Spirit’s swift power.

4. Strong convictions do none the less need the confirming effect of deliberate resolution, of some contributing and very conscious effort on our own side.

5. The most right resolutions need that we summon our whole self, after carefully “counting the cost,” to prove moral courage and spiritual vigor by taking some practical step. It is Jesus himself who lays the stress on “counting the cost,” for those who would be his followers, do his work, “enter the kingdom of God.” And to changed objects of life, methods of life, and society in life, such as those to which Saulay, to which any true convertis called, needs it not the entrance by unmistakable, confessed self-renunciation? Of the honesty and thoroughness of such self-renunciation it is at all events no feeble symbol when sense and appetite resign their grip, generally so tyrannical. And now in no parable, but in most literal truth, Saul is befriended by Divine forethought and care. The strong man is taken out of his own keeping. When he was his old self, he had indeed “girded himself and walked whither he would;” but now he is too glad to “stretch forth his hand, and that another should gird him” and lead him whither he had never, never thought of going. It was the completing so far of God’s great love to him, and Jesus’ great compassion toward him. He is delivered, fairly delivered from himself for three days. He sees not, eats not, drinks not. Neither does he go out to this present world by the beautiful gate of the eye, nor does the support of the outer world come so much as to his body. He is sequestered with the Spirit, who reveals to him the errors of the past and something of the destiny of the future; who makes him to know Jesus and himselfthe fullness and grace of the one, the poverty and insufficiency of the other. The plain facts for Saul again and again speak with lessons most needed for us and for all time. They suggest to us what meditation we need, what devotion, what divorce from sight and from appetite which may so seduce the soul, what grateful and close communion with God, obedience to the Spirit, and trust in the Savior, and how the safest augury for the future is that we do break with the past. Wonderful and fascinating to imagination Saul’s “retreat” of three days. To the things that then transpired, however, we need not be and ought not to be entire strangers. We may learn what Saul learned if we will go where he learned them, and may ere long say for ourselves

“There if thy Spirit touch the soul

And grace her mean abode,

Oh, with what peace and joy and love

She communes with her God!”

B.

Act 9:11

The sight that Jesus notes.

These words, spoken by Jesus himself from heaven to one disciple of his and about another, the very youngest of all, single out a fact, and point to it as a sight worthy to be observed. The fact is in itself a very simple one, in the judgment of many a very ordinary one, in the unheeding judgment of most men an exceedingly uninteresting and unimportant one. Nor would it be easy to find a more clearly outlined illustration of the different estimate of earth and heaven, of Jesus and of erring man, than that found here. Jesus points to the sight of a man on his knees as one worthy to be beheldto the fact of a man praying as one to engage attention, deep regard, and practically altered conduct on the part of his fellow-men. This is the simplest statement of the history that is before us. And it may be objected that, though it be a true statement so far, it is true only in this instance, or, if not only, yet that it is to such a degree exceptionally true here, that it may not be drawn into a precedent. But the burden of proof of such a position will fall upon those who shall hesitate to admit that one and the same essential element of noteworthiness attaches to the same situation, the same spectacle, wherever it presents itself. This, then, which was a spectacle to the Lord Jesus, and of which he speaks to his disciples in that very light, may well interest the gaze and devout thought of all generations”Behold, he prayeth!”

I. Let us consider, first, what different descriptions may be given in answer to the question, “WHAT IS IT TO PRAY?” since Jesus gives such prominence to the act.

1. It is the first sign of some great change. It betrays something novel that has been at work, unseen but not unfelt. It portends much to come.

2. it is itself the first movement of spiritual life, the new-born infant’s trial of the spiritual lungs, and first lifting of them up and first breathing of spiritual air, the first voice of the “babe in Christ.”

3. Its form may be a single word, a simplest sentence; one gentlest sigh may bear it up all the way to heaven, one passionate cry may speed it up; one upward glance of the eye may reveal it to that benignant eye which is ever bended down in compassion on us; one big solitary tear, that drops into the earth and can no more be gathered up, will be “counted” for it by him who doth “count all our tears.”

4. The time it takes may be a moment, the twinkling of an eye, or it may be the exercise of agonized hours.

II. We may ask, “WHO IS THE PRAYING MAN? AND WHAT HIS STATE?” The man who prays is the man who has come into a certain new state towards Goda slate that makes him desire also to come in a very new attitude into his presence.

1. It is the state of one who has discovered a need of a kind, a depth, an amount, and an urgency he had never dreamt of before.

2. It is the state of one who has become ready and anxious to make a thorough confession. Pride has gone. Self-satisfaction has gone. Trust in the world’s short resources has gone. Blindness and delusion are dissipated.

3. It is the state of one who has been shaken by conviction of sin. The first prayer is not for mercies temporal, but for mercythe mercy that a creature wants who has been growing up a long time, but not growing up in either perfect or even conscious relations with his Creator-Father. Conviction is the grandest interpreting exposition of the prophet’s dictum, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23).

4. It is the state of one who, let him be what he may, let him have been, have done, what he may, toward God, or toward man, or toward his own heart and conscience, has been visited by some glimmering ray of light, and has felt the warmth of some feeble flame of hope. Real prayer and absolute despair, real prayer and utter darkness, never go together. So prayer is the pulse of vitality. Its feeblest expression is the radiation of the spark of God’s light, life, love, not extinct.

5. It is the case of one long sore sick, for whom the crisis of fatal danger is past, the disease stayed, and on whom, with more than the loudest solicitude of the tenderest parent, the Lord Jesus looks down and vouchsafes to point out the blessed symptoms, saying, “Behold, he prayeth!”

III. Let us consider WHO IT IS THAT IS HERE SPOKEN OF AS PRAYING. He is a Jew, well taught, of pious forefathers, of strict Pharisee school, full of earnestness, free from immorality, given to striving for superiority and profiting above his equals, and given to saying prayers. So that, whatever a certain kind of light and moral character and virtue might avail, he had the benefit of them. On the other hand, “the light that was in him was darkness;” his zeal was bigotry; his high character was to the scale of human measurement only; he had never touched deep ground; he was a sinner and didn’t know it; he persecuted “saints” and didn’t know it; he kept the raiment, and consented to the stoning, of them that stoned Stephen, and didn’t know what he was doing or what they were doing,till now, in the full career of a very successful “breathing out of threatenings and slaughters,” he is flung to the ground, and becomes as one stunned. Yet spoken to, he knows the Lord, and in a moment owns his rightful Master by word. The prayers of the crucified Jesus, and of the first martyr Stephen “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge;” “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”are answered; and he who was just now breathing out those threatenings and slaughters, now breathes the deep, earnest, pleading accents of prayer. And there is no mistake, deception, nor unconscious delusion; for he who knew all says, and hushes every doubt and objection while he says it, “Behold, he prayeth!”

IV. Let us notice, lastly, way JESUS SAYS, “BEHOLD!”

1. To the risen Jesus, at all events, no real surprise could be possible. Only a God’s wonderswhatever that may bemight be understood here, if the charmed words had been words of soliloquy. But they are not words of soliloquy. They are condescendingly spoken in order to disarm the very faithlessness of human distrust, which, nevertheless, insisted on expressing itself. Jesus calls attention to what may teach us a large lesson of liberality, of charity, but above all of trust in the force victorious and “more than conquering” of his gospel and his Name.

2. Jesus calls attention to what we may think little of, and think amiss therein. Many are the things we think little of little sins, to wit-of which he thinks much, to hate them. Many are the things we think little oflittle kindnesses, little cups of cold water, to witof which he thinks much, to love them. And muchoh, how much!will waken our astonished attention one day, soon to come, that moves us with not a ripple of either surprise or interest now. Still, he that hath ears to hear may hear now that heavenly “Behold!” It speaks in most striking contrast to the “Lo! here,” and “Lo! there,” of earth and men.

3. Jesus says, “Behold!” because he would call attention to a change that was a pattern miracle of his power and grace. He calls attention to it, not as unique, but as a model instance. Such a character revolutionized! Such a life and force of life, and combined elements of life, and characteristics not all unmingled bad, changed! What, then, shall not Christ and the Spirit be able to do? Eighteen centuries have justified that “Behold!” in both these aspectsas pointing out a model conversion in Saul’s conversion, and as vindicating it as but the first of an amazing and glorious series.

4. Jesus, in saying “Behold!” teaches us where to look, and so also where not to look, in ourselves for evidence of real change. All objection, all inquisition, all human dogma, all ecclesiastical domination and forging of creed and formula and fetters,perish they all before the decisive “Behold!“ of Jesus” Behold, he prayeth!” Before this sight human presumption may well be silenced, as before it “Satan trembles.” In conclusion, still, alas! for once that the gracious finger points while the gracious lip says, “Behold, he prayeth!” how often must it be said, “Behold, he prayeth not”! Though there be every reason to pray, every encouragement to pray, how many pray not!, Yet no monarch on the most powerful and majestic throne, and wielding the mightiest sway, is in very deed to compare for one moment with the man whose attitude is on his knees before God. Who can describe the new alacrity with which in due time that man regains his feet? Though Saul had labored abundantly under the wrong master, after that praying he “labored more abundantly, yet not he, butthe grace of God that was in him,” and in him through that praying.B.

Act 9:15

The choice of perfect forgivingness.

Ananias demurs to the errand assigned. It was not altogether unnatural that he should do so. His hesitation, however, does not resemble that of Moses. And, in expressing the grounds of it, he was only occupying by anticipation the position which it would become necessary to occupy when any and all actual interposition of the great Head of the Church should be withdrawn. Then, as it is to this day, it became among the most critical cares and the most solemn responsibilities of the Church and of its leaders, its “pastors and elders,” to consider what prudence may permit, and act as much with the wisdom of the serpent as with the innocuousness of the dove. The hesitation of Ananias does not appear to be reproved, but is plainly overruled; and we are therein reminded still how

I. AN ILL REPUTATION AMONG MEN WILL NOT DETER THE CHOICE OF JESUS. The “things that are highly esteemed among men” are not only sometimes “held in abomination in the sight of God,” but the things that are with justice lightly “esteemed among men” are taken up sometimes by God, that he may in them magnify his transforming power.

1. Reputation is an uncertain guide. It is even particularly so, perhaps it may be said, when it is a good reputation; for how “many that are first, shall be last”!

2. The tyranny of reputation is not for a moment recognized by Jesus. As peremptorily as he would bid the worst sinner depart from the error of his way, as lovingly as he would persuade the most disreputable to “sin no more,” so graciously does he receive such also; and let the censorious world say what it will, he discountenances the censoriousness by word, and here emphatically discountenances by deed, what might contain the germ of the principle. It is a thing to be much thought upon by the true disciples of Christ. The world and a worldly Church aggravate the difficulty of the returning sinner. This is the opposite of the way of Jesus. Jesus helps a man to recover his character; he helps his struggles while he does so; he shows him sympathy, and,” though he fall many a time in the struggle, graciously watches him and upholds him again and again that he be not “utterly cast down.” It is a proverb that the world keeps the man down who is down. And when the Church approaches anything of the like kind, it means to say that it is only in name the Church, and is drained miserably dry of the Spirit.

II. THE UNLIKELIEST ANTECEDENTS DO NOT FRIGHTEN JESUS FROM HIS CHOICE. Ananias did not misstate anything, did not exaggerate the case against Saul, was not overridden by strange tales untrue. But he did fear; he had a nervous apprehension; he had not up to that moment learned, what probably he did at that moment learn, and from that moment never forgot, the proud reach of the power of Christ. How long it is before any of us attain to the right conception of Jesus and his heart and his hand! We still think him such as ourself, only something greater, greatly greater; something better, and very much better. We need to see that he is divinely greater, divinely better, and all that divine means.

1. The antecedents of a man’s life may largely betoken its real bent.

2. They will largely have made his habits.

3. They will almost inevitably color all his future way of viewing things. But to these three things the answer for Jesus is that he, ay, he alone, can reverse bent, can undo habit, and can give to see light in God’s light (Psa 36:9).

III. NONE OF THAT RESENTMENT THAT BORROWS SO MUCH VITALITY FROM LIVELY MEMORY OF PAST INJURY BELONGS TO JESUS. Genuinely to forgive is acknowledged to be one of the highest moral achievements of human nature. Nevertheless, there are ascending degrees even to this virtue; and when some men are satisfied that they have done their most and their best, all that nature admits of or that God demands, it must be allowed that these men are but beginning their higher flight. To forgive the bitterest opponent in these sensesthat you love him again or for the first time, as the case may be; that you sympathize with him and accept his sympathy; work with him and accept his work and devotionnay, select him as your chief man, and set him forth and forward as your champion;is a type of forgiveness rarely reproduced. With sublimity of ease Jesus does all this now. Not Peter, not John, not James, but this wild enemy, Saul, is the man he called and honored “to bear his Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” His sins shall not be remembered against him forever. They are, then, really blotted out. He is not forgiven, but put rather low down; forgiven, but kept rather down, lest he should not be fit to be quite trusted; forgiven, but in deepest truth left still a marked man. No; if he is marked it is for honor, for renown, for grace, and for the unfading crown of glory. In sight of this proof of the perfection of forgiveness that is with Jesus, we may well sing-

“Mighty Lord, so high above us,

Loving Brother, all our own,

Who will help us, who will love us,

Like to thee, who all hast known?

Who so gentle to the sinners

As the soul that never fell?

Who so strong to make us winners

Of the height he won so well?”

IV. IN THE CHOICE OF JESUS WE STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE OF THE ULTIMATE MYSTERIES OF HUMAN EXISTENCE AND HUMAN RELATION TO GOD. When we ponder this subject, if we side with the infidel, we ridicule and at the same time we are putting ourselves nowhere. If we side with the reverent, we are in the depths too deep for this. The choosing of Jesus is mystery, unfathomable mystery for us.

1. It is mystery because he gives no account of it nor will be arraigned nor questioned concerning it.

2. It is mystery, because not all our reason, nor all our reverent study of the oracles, nor all our diligent search of history, nor all our scrutiny of human will and character, can trace the law of that choosing. It baffles us in reason and in fact. Its startling anomalies presented to our view in closest juxtaposition, its sudden appearance in the most unexpected place, and its equally conspicuous and impressive absence, speak the mystery of sovereignty.

3. It is mystery in the wonders which it reveals of surpassing condescension, grace, and clinging love. While reason still stands afar off in cold repulsion and haughty distance, hearts draw near. And for its last achievement it works out this harmony for all those, without one exception, who have become the objects of it; they adore the free grace that has drawn and brought them; they condemn in the same breath the perverseness and folly and guilt in themselves, which left them so long outside.B.

Act 9:16

Jesus’ far-seeing compassion appearing in an unexpected way.

That Saul, when now called Paul, did indeed suffer many and great things for Jesus’ “Name’s sake,” is most true. He knew it when he suffered them; he knew it also by anticipation (Act 20:23; Act 11:11)a kind of knowledge that to many would be of the most harassing and distressing consequence; and he knew it as he looked back (2Co 11:23-31; 2Co 12:10), not indeed to murmur, nor to repent of having exposed himself to it, but, while glorying in the suffering, to testify how real it was. That, therefore, of which Jesus tells Ananias that he will forewarn Saul, did by all the witness of history come to pass. But it is another question why he is forewarned of it, and why Jesus assures Ananias that he shall be so forewarned. Nor can it escape our notice that much significance is intended to lie in the statement as here introduced. Let us consider this announcement of Jesus

I. IN ITS APPLICATION TO ANANIAS. It is intended to remove the objection of Ananias, by suggesting to him:

1. That Christ did not overlook, had not overlooked, the specialty of the case.

2. That Christ would be himself answerable for the education of Saul for his work, failing the antecedents that Ananias supposed would have been of more auspicious promise.

3. That that education would not fail to be what, in its character and the severity of its discipline, would both

(1) attest the reality of the change passed upon Saul and

(2) confirm and deepen that change.

4. Possibly Christ may, in the mode of his reply, desire also very condescendingly to still any smallest germ of

(1) personal envy or

(2) forwardness to suspicion lurking in. the character of Ananias. It is very certain that the mischief of these two very things, unacknowledged and covered over with finer words, has amounted to a total result of very great disaster during the career of the Church, ever since the personal intervention of Jesus has been absent. How often did Jesus in the days of his flesh stand by the sorry sinner round whom surged the murmur of the envious multitude! But the half-stifled and cautious envy and suspicion of the wary individual has often proved itself a more cruel enemy to souls, and must be a more offensive obstacle, in the eyes of Jesus, to his work making way in some poor guilty but struggling soul. Certain it is that

“Since our dear Lord in bliss reposed,
High above mortal ken,”

his Church has, times without number, made to pass through severest quarantine heartbroken volunteers for his service. The effects have been all deteriorating and disastrous. They would have been ruinous save for the still steady, if invisible, rule and headship of Jesus Christ. The Church (whether only so named or so in deed and in truth), mistaking duty and right, has failed in such cases to note sufficiently the Divine treatment as here illustrated in the three days’ blindness and fasting of Saul, succeeded by the confidence and trust of the great Master, given immediately in the kindliest and most unreserved manner.

II. IN ITS APPLICATION TO SAUL HIMSELF. Jesus bids Ananias lose no time, but “go” at once to bear to Saul the message, so far as the way could be prepared for it by human lips; and herein suggests to us to notice certain relations of this language to Saul.

1. Christ, having chosen his servant, apprises him both faithfully and early of what awaits him. No false, nor tempting, nor too favorable gloss is put by him on his own “most worthy” service.

2. He apprises him also of what is expected of him. If Jesus show to any one, whether in the ways of apostolic time or in the ways of time present, “how great things he shall suffer for his Name’s sake,” “how great things” life and circumstance and earthly lot are likely to make him “suffer,” “how great things” his divinest directest call shall impose upon him to “suffer,”it must be that he is addressing a call to him that shall invoke all his heroism. It is very much as though the condescending Jesus did here introduce the Christian hero into the possible ranks of his own blessed Church. All must come of him, all does surely come of him; but if it be possible, something shall be credited to the range of human virtue. Manifestly Saul was a good instance by which to set forth this. He had been conspicuous; he had been a hero of some sort; he had shown lavish energy, which shall no longer be sacrificed to lavish waste. Thus from the first Jesus gives a tone to certain of his servantsthose, to wit, who are of the sort to answer to it readily and really. Life and labor and the success of real usefulness do often largely own to original impulse and early impression. The high-pitched thought and purpose and feeling of youth and of first effort are rarely lost, when they are genuine to begin with. They tell and count and swell to the echo as year and period pass by. Nor can it be denied that many a true Christian life falls under the condemnation of being a feeble and an unfruitful life, because it was not at the first appealed to with power. It never got the idea of trenchancy. And indecisionits watchwordwas snare and delusion to it.

3. He apprises him of what may be calculated upon, as acting like a certain and safe check to both pride or vanity and self-confidence. How many have fallen upon the very threshold of what would have been a great spiritual career through one or both of these things I And the pride ecclesiastical and the self-confidence that “lords it over the faith” of others are just two of the most pronounced pestilences of human nature. From the fright and the fire and the faintness of the “three days” which Saul had now known, it were well that he should not be brought out at once to the light and “the cheerful sun” and the splendid hopes and prospects of a great career. It is better that an annealing interval find place. It is safer that his thought and heart find tonic in a Savior’s call and in a Master’s demandthat he familiarize himself with the outlook of suffering, and great suffering.

4. Though lastly, yet most of all, Jesus will connect everything in Saul’s thought now with himself. How great, how true, how kind was this philosophy! Saul has sinned no end against Christ, and he shall suffer no end for “his Name’s sake.” What healing for Saul’s soul that foretelling announcement! Saul has persecuted fiercely those who were dear to Christ unspeakably, and he shall bear the brunt of fiercest persecution for the sake of Christ and in the service of his loved ones. It is the only compensation for his self-respect, it is some anodyne for his inward smart, and, though an undiscerning world would never have thought it, it is the supreme mark of Christ’s sweet forgivingness, of his delicate considerateness, of his tenderest sympathy. “I will show him how great things he must,” etc.B.

Act 9:17-19

A parable in things spiritual.

We entertain no doubt that we have here a simplest history of what actually occurred. We doubt no less that the chiefest interest and significance of the record lie in the spiritual history that underlies it. Nay, more, though we read facts of outer life, they do nothing mere than outline those of an inner life, which Jesus notices, loves, helps, and even makes. Notice

I. THE CHANGE THAT PASSES ON SAUL. He receives his sight. For three days he had been blind in a bodily sense, but for probably three and thirty years he had been blind in the other sense. And this is just what he had been. He had not been vicious, immoral, sottish, nor an infidel, nor irreverent toward all religious truth and feeling. But he had been blindblind to the very type of human nature. And his blindness is but the type of that of every one of us, till he “receives his sight from the Lord Jesus.”

II. THE HUMAN HAND AND VOICE BY AID OF WHICH THE BLESSING IS CONVEYED. If Jesus had been in a literal sense upon the earth, he would have spoken to Saul, he would have laid his own hands upon him. The actual ministry, the visible ministry, is passed, however, now into human agency. This was a plain-spoken statement of it. How great the honor laid on men! and how great their responsibility by this devolution of the highest and holiest functions! How full of solemn and inspiring suggestion, too little traced out in devout thought by usthat the actual work which for a space of time Jesus’ own voice and hand had attended to, are now to be attended to by man, fellow-man.

1. That work, that ministry of service to the soul of a fellow-creature, finds out very soon and very surely all that is of the nature of sympathy. It tries sympathy it wakes it, it increases it. The fearful Anamas and distrustful of one hour ago finds, and no doubt honestly, the word “brother” now on his lip” Brother Saul.”

2. Jesus himself became genuinely a Brother to those he came to save, not by virtue of his Divine power and practical pity only. That his might be the very type of brotherliness, he took our nature on him, and made himself Brother (Heb 2:11, Heb 2:17). And when he ascended, his representatives are to be found in those who were men alone. That what might seem the unnecessary thing is here done, in a man being sent with the mere message of regiven sight, and the mere formality of “laying on hands” where no virtue could pass, must mean all the more to set honor on the spiritual work which one man should do for others.

III. THE ONE DIVINE SOURCE FROM WHICH, NEVERTHELESS, ALL SAVING HELP CAME.

1. Jesus sends Ananias. He has directed him, and where necessary corrected him also. He has fixed the time, and hastens the lingering step of Ananias.

2. Jesus, who “began the good work,” perfects it. The Jesus who met Saul in the way and peremptorily reined up his career is the Jesus who gives him now light and liberty and his commission. The miracle is the miracle of Jesus; his the power, the will, the love, the sovereign grace. Nor can this be too well remembered by the servants of Christ, in all they do now toward the salvation of a fellow man. Those who will most readily admit that the touch of their hand can do nothing to work sight for the blind, are not always quite so clear that their voice, their wisdom, their persuasion, their mental influence on a fellow-being’s mental state, are correspondingly impotent in and of themselves. Yet it is so. The love of Jesus and the command of the Spirit, and these alone, “make dead sinners live.” Of one thing we may be convinced, that, had Ananias only spoken a hollow word of respect to Jesus, and flattered himself that the healing and sight-giving were going to be his own, the miracle would have broken down in the middle, if it had got so far, as Peter sank in the middle of his walking upon the sea. Does the preacher, does the teacher, does the pastor, remember this principle constantly enough? Do they possess an unfeigned humility of faith in it?

IV. THE ASSERTION OF THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY GHOST.

1. The work of the Holy Ghost is announced.

2. The presence of the Holy Ghost is announced as the result of the sending of Jesus Christ (Joh 16:7).

3. The commanding need of the Holy Ghost for a renewed man and an enlightened man, that he may remain surely so, is strongly enough implied: “That thou mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Nothing so hinders the spread of Christianity, the force of Christian life, the conversion of souls, as the neglect or the indifference shown to the work of the Holy Spirit. Christianity is in the fullest sense “the dispensation of the Spirit,” and yet prayer for that Spirit, dependence upon him, understanding of him, arc often all of the vaguest. The power and persuasion and grandeur of Christ and the cross of Christ only move into vitality as the Spirit takes of them and brings them to men’s hearts. We do all and always need the Holy Spirit for both conversion and for sanctification, and for knowing and doing acceptably any service for God, for Christ, in man’s heart and life.

V. THE SIGNS FOLLOWING THE WORD AND THE LAYING ON OF THE HANDS OF ANANIAS. They followed just as though it were by his own “power and holiness” that this miracle was wrought. So in our spiritual work, we should look for results. We should feel their cheering effect. We should delight in them. We should be grateful and honored exceedingly that we are permitted to be instruments in the “mighty hand” for doing them. But, meantime, we are bound never to forget how fearful the robbery and the guilt if we give not all the glory to God, to Jesus, to the Spirit.B.

Act 9:21

Amazement’s opportunity.

The amazement of the disciples of Jesus, and- of others also who heard Saul preaching at Damascus, may be pronounced natural enough under any circumstances and in any view of it. Yet distinct and emphatic mention of it asks for a somewhat more careful observation and scrutiny of its nature and peculiar features. Notice

I. THE CAUSE OF THIS AMAZEMENT.

1. That Saul, a bitter opponent heretofore of Christ and his truth, now preaches Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but Christ. He preaches “the whole Christ” in this sense, that, as we are told, he uplifts the central and so to speak crucial fact about Christ, “that he is the Son of God.” This once granted “with the heart,” all else follows. He has not yielded upon some side aspects of the matter, and for some politic reasons joined a remarkable movement. But he has yielded the stronghold of his own unbelief, and has acknowledged the impregnable character of the stronghold that he had been striving to batter down, to under- mine, to “utterly” destroy.

2. That Saul, a notorious opponent of Christ, comes now to preach in the places where his change of front would also become most notorious confessed, and where it in turn would be the mark and butt of keen opposition. He preached Christ “in the synagogues.”

3. That, with the most unreserved and apparently even unconscious self-forgetfulness, Saul mingles in this work side by side with men, for the apprehension of whom, and for the conveying of whom “bound to Jerusalem,” he had in his pocket official authorizations.

4. That Saul does this “straightway,” without finding delay a possible thing, without waiting for anything of the nature of diplomatic introduction. There is something or ether fresh in his heart, and it comes with all promptness and naturalness and force, full of its freshness, into his life.

II. THE SUBJECTS OF THIS AMAZEMENT.

1. They were in part disciples. It is impossible to say that all those who were amazed were of the number of either disciples or non-disciples. It is said “all” that “heard him” were amazed. These must have consisted of both disciples and non-disciples. The one had not left off entirely to frequent the synagogue, and the others would, as a matter of course, be found in some sort of number there. So far as they were strictly disciples, their amazement marks no doubt, on the one hand, grateful and adoring impression; but, on the other, it is not altogether free from the imputation of betraying that the glories of the Spirit’s power in conversion, and the force of the truth and call of Jesus, were at present only dawning upon their minds. We still speak of remarkable conversions, chiefly because they are so rare. We have had enough instances of them to satisfy us as to what the force of conversion is on every kind of sinner, in every kind of nature, and in every “nation.” We are ever to magnify Christ and the Spirit, and gratefully to acknowledge their triumphs in conversion, but the expression of amazement may sometimes derogate from their honor. Perhaps the conversion of Saul was not only the most remarkable conversion that had yet taken place, but was the only one that, all things together, had stood out uniquely enough to compel attention individually.

2. They were in part unconvinced Jews, who, dead in formality, still frequented the synagogues in Damascus. The lingering and somewhat feeble faith and knowledge of the disciples finds something to counterbalance it, perhaps to some little degree, in the quickly aroused criticism and spirit of observation on the part of others less enlightened than they. The indirect influences of Christ and of his truth are many and effective. His enemies, and the force and the violence and the cruelty of their opposition, he often makes tributary to the advancement of his cause. Many who had hitherto willingly spread opposition, and opposition only, now become the means of spreading tidings of how the chief of the opposition had thrown up the contest and joined heart and hand to help. And they spread this ominous fact in the most contagious manner. It is by the manner of wondering, excited question, and question that wraps up in a sentence or two the salient and really telling aspects of the whole matter. The astonishment of the godly is often deep down in their own souls or sacred in the converse of one another; the astonishment of the ungodly is sure to be loud on their lip. But when this latter largely reinforces the former, both advantages are secured, and the march of victory advances to the step of both friends and foes. It was so now, and throughout the whole people far and wide notoriety was as the consequence given to the conversion of Saula notoriety which had its share in bringing on the “Churches’ rest” spoken of in Act 9:31.

III. THE RESULTS OF THE AMAZEMENT.

1. A very wide hearing was gained irresistibly, not for the truths of Christianity alone, but for its triumphs as well. One triumph is itself a sermon better than a thousand merely spoken sermons. And now this triumph-sermon, this sermon of sermons, is proclaimed and repeated by thousands of lips.

2. Even when first impressions had died away, substantial increase of faith and hope was left in the character of all “disciples.” They had without doubt known already striking instances of changed opinion and feeling and life among those to whom Christ had been preached, and for whom his mighty works had been done. But this was not what is generally meant by a remarkable conversion. The grand feature here was not the reform from an unholy life, but the reform from an uncompromising antagonist into a devoted and very powerful champion. This would be a comparatively new and a most refreshing testimony to disciples of the nature and the force of the new treasure they had in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

3. Slumbering enmity and indifference to Christ in those who were not disciples were brought into the shape in which they would be best dealt withmalignant enmity and active resistance. Now “the sinners” and “those who were at ease” wake themselves. Here is found a foeman worthy indeed of their “steel,“ if they had weapon of the make. But they had not. They, therefore, conspire and “watch day and night,” to learn how vain the attempt to take those whom Christ holds so safe in his hand and love. The fruit of confessed amazement and undoubted amazement at the mighty deeds of Christ must ever be either hearty obedience to him, or an understanding more blinded and life aggravated to perverseness itself.B.

Act 9:25

The beginning of perils for Paul.

To this beginning of “perils” Paul will often in later days of life have looked back. He did not live to any prolonged period, but if he had, there is not a length of life so long nor charged with changes so violent as to be able to cut off from us the effects of the touching comparisons and the telling contrasts of beginning and ending. Many a broken portion of life offers us such effects; but how much more moving those of life itself! Long was the list of perils and sufferings, varied and sharp the discipline of them; but when the rehearsal of them comes (2Co 11:16-33), it speaks a perseverance unbroken, a courage unquenched, a heart, fidelity, love, stronger and more determined than ever. That rehearsal somewhat remarkably closes with the mention of the first peril of Paul, as here given us, as though his memory, deliberately traveling backward, reached last that which life brought to him first. The opportunity may be seized for considering at least one side of the great service of suffering. It must be a ministry full of expression, full of meaning, full of deep feeling, and, if not made full of use also, it must be of all loss “most miserable.” In the present connection let us observe that

I. IT TESTS A CAUSE, OF WHAT SORT IT IS. With rare exceptions, it may be said that the cause which bears the test of suffering, and of much suffering, will be a cause alike great and good. Human hearts, strong though they be, are not strong enough to bear gratuitously a vast amount of suffering. The vast amount of the worst sort of suffering that sin entails, that comes inevitably in its wake, is of course not in the place for a test, and cannot operate as such. The abundant presence of it, therefore, where it is, does not invalidate the position. The cause that asks suffering to espouse it, to sustain it, to carry it to completion, is self-hedged around as with some sovereign safeguard. The frivolous will not come near it, and the great multitude will pay no court to it. But:

1. If it arrest the attention, kindle the enthusiasm, win the practical confidence of a few, and those, perhaps, the thoughtful, the useful, the unselfish, it is a considerable augury of something substantial and substantial good in it.

2. Enthusiasm can do very great things for an hour. It will encounter and even court any amount of suffering. We cannot, therefore, consider taking service in a cause that imposes suffering any decisive test. The test, however, becomes much more decisive when that service is persevered in, still entailing suffering, year after year, and on to the maturity of life.

3. The highest kind of human test is reached when the cause is one persevered in to the very end of life, through suffering all the way and almost every step. The enterprise that can secure this allegiance says as much for itself as any enterprise on earth can, and the best. And this is abundantly the case with Christianity. When Saul embraced it, it meant peril, and labor, and privation, and much direct suffering. But, “being persuaded of it, he embraced it,” and was faithful to it through the succeeding periods and phases of his own earthly career, and up to the very last. Then in old age, beaten and weather-beaten, in prison and in chains and bonds, he does not dream of repenting or of recanting, but says, “I am not ashamed,” and bids others follow in his steps (2Ti 1:12). If it had been a flowery path and an easy career, Paul’s perseverance would have been no argument for it. But because it was a suffering career, his perseverance spoke, not his praise alone, but that of his Master’s cause yet more. How many a cause will waken enthusiasm! how few will sustain it! How many will beg it! how few reward it! There is the difference of a world, ay, of two worlds, between the two.

II. SUFFERING TESTS A MAN, OF WHAT SORT HE IS. If any one persevere in fighting a suffering battle, it is certainly so far forth an argument for the object of the battle. But if he do not fight the battle, or beginning do not carry out to the end the struggle, it by no means condemns the cause. The question will have to be settled whether blame lie with the cause or whether it do not rather lie with the person.

1. Suffering for the individual tries high moral quality and improves it.

2. Suffering tries many individual virtues and gracesthose of faith, of hope, of perseverance, of love that fires cannot burn away nor death destroy. And it unfailingly improves them.

3. Suffering certainly tends to fix and give clear “evidence” to an unearthly type of character.

4. Suffering lends distinctness to conviction, to purpose, to achievement. It is a disinfectant, an alterative, and a tonic all in one. Pleasure and indulgence enfeeble, that is, they tend to enfeeble and to enervate, once past a very moderate amount. Suffering, short of an excessive amount of it, makes keen the faculty, the sight, the soul itself! Wonderful is its bracing effect on body and mind, on heart and life.

III. SUFFERING BECOMES SOMETIMES THE OCCASION OF A GREAT MORAL DISPLAY IN THE WORLD. Beside the uses of suffering in the good fruits it produces on individual character; and beside its use as a test, whether of worth in an enterprise or of strength in a person, it cannot be denied that it lends itself to special moral service, often on a large scale and in a wide theatre. Against it all nature rebels. For that very reason, when it is voluntarily encountered, patiently borne, and embraced even to the cross, to stoning, to torture, and the stake, the world has no help for it but to notice what is transpiring. An unwilling world is put into the dilemma that it is either convinced or convicted. The confession is wrested from all beholders that there is something present which begs and deserves close scrutiny and respectful attention, or that they are in any given instance deserting precedents that in all others they have observed. When the testimony of suffering is shown forth in one, the force of it will partly depend on the notoriety that his conduct may win, and it may undoubtedly be weakened by the suspicion of individual eccentricity until this again be rebutted. But when the testimony is borne by many and for a length of time, it is equivalent to the presence of a new and very real moral force among mankind, many of the grandest and most impressive triumphs of Christianity have been owing to this, and many of its most significant impulses have been due to it. Men and suffering have calmly faced one another, have measured the force of one another; neither have shrunk from the wagermen have not fled and suffering has not yielded up its sting. And yet they have made common cause, and have made also most wonderfully effective fight. Something in man, given him from without and from above, has made him fearless of what all nature made him to fear. It is an exhibition in the arena of the world; it never fails of having witnesses; it always leaves its traces. And the Paul of perils and sufferings ever stands one of the clearest and noblest illustrations of a great and effectual moral display.B.

Act 9:26-30

An ill odor and its remedy.

The odor of character and “ill report” are two very different things. The character of most fragrance may be in worst “report.” Was it not true of Jesus? The noblest personages that have graced the world have often been temporarily of ill report, but not, correctly speaking, of ill odor. Of all ill odor none is a hundredth part so bad as the ill odor of character. Notice

I. ITS CHIEF POINTS OF STRONG CONDEMNATION.

1. It is an intrinsic shame to the person of whom it is true. It is the result of what he is and what he says and what he does, and not of the mistakes others may possibly make respecting him in any of these particulars.

2. It is a virulent disintegrant of human society and love. It turns the place and opportunity of attraction into those of repulsion, and substitutes for the union of trust the disunion of suspicion.

3. It is cruelty to all those who are of the same kind by nature. Some kind of sin, beside all the black front it shows as such to God, adds the aggravation of widespread and keenly felt domestic misery.

4. It is a very fountain of fear to an indefinite number of others. The character that is correctly answerable to the description of one of ill odor is an offence to those who hare to come in contact with it, and to those who fear lest they should come in contact with it.

5. It is constantly diffusing its noxious and malarious influences, and not least when perhaps for a brief while least observed.

II. THE REMEDY. There is one remedy, one only, that goes to the root of the matter. That character must be changed. Come what may, let what may seem risked, through whatsoever experience of suffering and anguish of a new birth, nothing short of a real and penetrating change will avail. Nothing partial, no outside improvement, no mere mitigation of his style of word or deed, could have reconciled “disciples at Jerusalem” or anywhere else to Saul, had there not been proof patent of radical change. The source of the old ill must be cut off, and in such wise that it comes to be the natural thing to men to feel convinced that it is really and undoubtedly cut off.

III. THE ROOM THAT THERE IS FOR THE EXERCISE OF BROTHERLY CHARITY WITHAL. Men who go by the name of Christian do often suspect when they should not, and distrust too long. The example of Jesus is clear against such conduct and such a disposition. To the worst sinner he was prompt to give the hand of hope and the hand of help, and to shield them from the glance and the pointed finger of tauntings drawn from the past. We may admit that the eye of Jesus recognized genuineness, and his lip could pronounce upon it with a certainty shut out from ourselves. None the less must we recognize his principle, and honor it by using it. Barnabas now took Saul by the hand, and showed him the brotherly kindness the spirit of which the great Master first gave to the Church. And it is agreeable to observe how “apostles” and “brethren” thereupon believed in Saul, and acted as though they believed in him. Grateful is it at one and the same time to see how the trust reposed in Barnabas quite sufficed to counteract the distrust that had been so naturally felt towards Saul. Broad as is the line, therefore, that separates the repentant man from the sinner; uncompromising as our conduct must be in having no fellowship with darkness; and trenchant as our fidelity to doctrine as it were;yet for all this amount of reason, the more promptly, gladly, and trustfully must we give heart and hand to the repentant, whatsoever they have been heretofore. From the moment Jesus pardons, receives, and sets to work one who has long and deeply insulted him, we must pardon, “receive as a brother beloved,” and welcome as a fellow-laborer that man. Nor ever forget that to suspect and distrust a moment too long, or to wonder past believing, is to put ourselves into the last position that we would wish or mean to occupy. For our immovable and gladdest creed is that Christ can do all things in human heart and human life.B.

Act 9:31

History a sermon.

The simplest matters of fact are sometimes weighted with impression and charged with instruction. And in like manner, the simplest-told history sometimes preaches the most suggestive of sermons. Notice three things in this briefly described episode of history.

I. THE REST WHICH THE CHURCH HAD.

1. It was a rest from the actual sufferings of persecution.

2. It was a rest from the constant and tearing anxieties involved in the fear of persecution. Foreboding kills many whom no actual suffering would kill.

3. It was a rest from the literal moving about from place to place, either with the chance of eluding persecution or as the consequence of it. In all of these respects the mercy of Christ is not forgetful of the need of the Church:

(1) As repose is one of the first necessities of each individual that composes it. Storm, trouble, conflict, operate as useful tests of character and fidelity, and they may be said to add some sort of strength. But for growth and nourishment and sound health rest is one of the first conditions.

(2) As repose is one of the first necessities for giving scope to the character and action of the Church as a whole. One of the divinest tests of the Church is its spontaneous love and its spirit of co-operation. Those who are in similar want, similar sorrow, similar danger, similar fear, do not find any difficulty in harmonizing, drawing near together, co-operating. But the scene is often changed when it is all fair weather. Therefore fair weather itself is necessary

(a) for trying character and hardening character, and

(b) for giving the time and the opportunity for combining in works of holy activity. Note well what a various thing Christian character and life make. They are of many elements; they need not a hard, stiff, monotonous, unbending treatment. But they need the revolution of the seasons, and can bear it too. They need blast and tempest, and are responsive to summer evening’s softest sigh also. They need many a caution, many an anxious watching, many an anguished heart-searching, but also they need to luxuriate awhile in the rest of calm, of happiness, of love.

II. THE PEACE WHICH PREVAILED DURING REST. The enemy which might have taken opportunity to enter, one whom the most experienced would have feared the most, did not enter. The true motto, “Peace, as in all Churches of the saints” (1Co 14:33), was their welcome watchword now. Rest from without is often the very signal for confusion and discord within. The concord that comes of a common enemy known to be no distance off is something far inferior to the concord that comes from real intrinsic causes. This only can give us any slightest foretaste of the deep calm of heaven.

1. How pleasant this calm peace within must have been, as a mere contrast to what had been!

2. How welcome it must have been, as introducing the followers and disciples of Jesus to their first acquaintance with a thoroughly new set of ideas, new range of affections, new work of this life, and new scope of life itself!

3. How delightful this peace, for the sake of the actual converse of disciples with disciples, and of Church with Church! They had met, perhaps, in the relations of business, and of pleasure, and of a dead formalism of religion, and in the discussion of the humiliation of the political bondage under which they were now living; but what unwonted peace this was to have “their conversation in heaven,” to find it “building”time in the best sense, to “walk in the fear of the Lord,” and to know the “comfort of the Holy Ghost”! The “fellowship of kindred minds” is indeed not necessarily “like to that above;” but the fellowship of such kindred minds is undoubtedly and blessedly “like to that above.”

III. THE INCREASE OF THE CHURCH. Intervals of rest give the opportunity of growth, and intervals of peace within are deep, solid, firm, growing itself. But neither the Church nor the individual Christian can be right in considering exclusively, or enjoying exclusively without consideration, its own possibilities of inward growth. The Church was now not only “edified” in itself, and “settled,” “stablished,” “strengthened,” but “it was multiplied.” No doubt, even in times of severest tribulation, it was added to, and persecution by no means closed its roll and cut off its recruits. But now the Churchthe destined depository of Divine power in part, and the honored fellow-laborer with Divine unseen actorswas beginning to know its work and to feel its high force and to be conscious of its most responsible privileges. The very simple and beautiful description before us warrants us to say that the consistent “walk” of the Church, and the deep heart-felt experience on the part of the Church of what is most; characteristic above all things else whatsoever of her existence and nature, namely, “the comfort of the Holy Ghost,” are the best adapted human means for the increase of the Church, for the impression of the world, for the conversion of the sinners. “The power is of God” under any and all circumstances. The “foolishness of preaching” is the positive and declared method of making known what the gospel of Christ is and what it proffers. But for impression on others, so far as human action goes, the Christian man who “walks in the fear of the Lord” availeth much. And for pressure upon the unbelieving world, pressure upon its eye, ear, judgment, and conscience, pressure constant, close, and unavoidable, there is nothing like the advance of a host that “walks in the fear of the Lord,” and that enjoys “the comfort of the Holy Ghost.”

1. Consistent Christian life speaks itself. This has always been a potent presence and an irresistible argument. The absence of it is damnatory, on all sides and in all sensesto the person who makes hollow profession, damnatory of that hollowness; to the world damnatory of any inclination to be found in the camp of such hollowness. For, wonderful though it be that the world will condone and will have fellowship with other hollowness, most blessed and advantageous it is that it kicks at, scorns, and exposes the hollowness of mere profession of Christ.

2. “The comfort of the Holy Ghost” is an experience, and it is of what is deepest down in human hearts. Yet is it not for that reason invisible. It betrays itself in the eye; it betokens itself in the language and the very tone of that language; it beams forth in all the deed of the man whom the Spirit who gives it vouchsafes to inhabit. When the Holy Ghost becomes the Master, the gracious, condescending, comforting Master of any man, or of the Church, or any part of the Church, then these become the persuasive masters of others, and the choicest, chiefest attraction of the world. The “Church is multiplied” then, and the “excellency of the power is of God” still. This little episode of history, then, is a sermon, and teaches us what a practical sermon the life of every Church and every Christian may preach.B.

Act 9:32-35

One specimen of Christian activity.

The history has for some little while veiled the Apostle Peter from view. He now appears again in an episode that catches our attention the more because of the things it leaves unsaid. Let us notice

I. THE MORE REMARKABLE FEATURES OF THE BRIEF NARRATIVE.

1. The picture is put before our eye, by the mere touch of the sacred pen, of the full measure of activity that characterizes Peter. He is not at home. He is “not slothful” and self-indulgent. He is at work, and for work’s sake traveling “through all parts.”

2. The fond inclining of Peter’s heart is seen. He “comes down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda” He comes down to refresh brethren and to be refreshed by them. He comes to see the little nucleus of believers, to give them “some token for good,” to give them another hostage of their work, to give them an example, and to take from them that which they had to give and yet be no losersChristian sympathy and joy.

3. The silence observed respecting Aeneas, who he was. Is there not justification for supposing that he was already one of “the saints”? For:

(1) Peter seems to have found him among such.

(2) Peter asks him no question to elicit knowledge or faith, hope or love; nor does he seem to ask anything of Peter either for body or mind.

(3) Peter appears to use the Name of Jesus Christ as a name known already to Aeneas, and addresses him apparently with the ease of brotherly familiarity and of Christian homeliness.

4. The immediate blessing “given” though unasked, unsought yet “found” (Luk 11:9, Luk 11:10). Much as Jesus loves and teaches that we should ask, seek, and knock for his blessings, it must be a sight acceptable to him to see the patience of bodily suffering that asks nothing.

5. The great attention called hereby to the Lord. The little villages were “born” again in a day (Isa 66:8). Lydda and Saron “saw the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God,” and they “blossomed as the rose” (Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2).

II. THE MORE REMARKABLE LESSONS OF THIS BRIEF NARRATIVE.

1. The refreshing suggestion given to us of the force that lies in the genuine activity of one Christian.

2. The wisdom, amid all our visitings, of visiting Christians and little communities of Christians, who may dwell apart, in the village and the hamlet, afar from the stir of the large masses of the people. When with such, there will be sure to be much to be given and much to be gotten by the genuine.

3. The grand opportunities that seem to come, where our faithlessness least anticipates it, when only we arc very simply walking in duty’s path. Those are really the opportunities Heaven sent, and the likeliest of all to be fruitful of immortal good. Our grander preparations do not at all infallibly correspond with Heaven’s grander opportunities. Explain it as we may, though the explanation is in no sense far to seek, the labored preparations of even Christian men ill harmonize with the sublime ease of the Spirit’s achievements. But to humble prayer, humble work, untiring activity, opportunities seem to come which are really Heaven’s earliest, freshest sending.

4. The pity that sees and forgets not, sees and visits, and visits that it may see, the patient sufferer. One type of this we know, one only we adore. But how it ought to rivet our gaze and our admiration, and constrain our reverent, loving imitation! The impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, who had “had his infirmity thirty and eight years,” gains the notice of Jesus’ eye above all the rest. The AEneas who “for eight years had kept his bed because he was palsied,” has the eye of the risen Jesus and Lord upon him, and Peter is sent to him. At one and the same time it is true that Jesus does all and that Peter is learning in his work to be like Jesus.

5. The widespread advantages of one real stroke of work done in the Name of “Jesus Christ.” There is no doubt a self–spreading force in Christian truth and in Christian good. For they are both what are wanted by men. And nothing so much wanted, so deeply wanted. Let men unsophisticated, let men whose real nature has not yet been utterly lost to the devil, only get a “taste” of the good that Christ has to give, that Christ is, and that Christ can work in mind and heart, and they will “hunger and thirst” for him. But we have to remember that, in order to this, we must take care that it is the Name of Jesus we preach, the pure truth of Jesus we teach, the life of Jesus we exhibit, and the deep, unquenchable love of Jesus that is in our own heart.B.

Act 9:36-43

The emphatic mark of Divine approbation which Christianity puts upon womanly kindness, in what may seem an humble sphere, and upon genuinely felt gratitude for it.

The narrative is the more interesting as being the first subsequent to the Ascension, and among the Acts of the Apostles, which brings the deeds, the character, and the fame of a Christian woman into prominence. The share that Christianity has contributed in honoring women, and in raising them to occupy their own proper place, has been often acknowledged. Omitting what Christ’s own word and deed helped to this end, the narrative now before us may be said to be the beginning of a long stream of illustration of it. Let us notice

I. THE DECISIVE MARK OF RESPECT HERE PUT ON HUMBLE BUT PRACTICAL FEMININE GOODNESS. The mark, in few words, consisted in a miracle wrought to restore to life a woman “full of good works and almsdeeds,” who was cut off in the midst of her usefulness. But what are the things that may be remarked in more detail of this miracle?

1. It was wrought, not for a ease of long suffering, or for some agonized form of suffering that might necessarily touch any heart with a deep compassion.

2. It was not wrought to restore to the service of this world one who had already largely figured in its high places. It is not position, wealth, great natural power and endowment, distinguished character, philanthropy of renown, nor even great learning, that is the object of honour. We do not at all take the idea that the heaven will fall if this gap which death has made be not somehow or other rapidly filled up.

3. It was not touching youth, fashion, beauty, accomplishment, nor oven the mourned mother of a familythat dethroned queen of the domestic heaven, whose vacant throne dashes dismay into so many true hearts, and fills all the house with darkness and a sense of desertion. It was no such pensive, pathetic, importunate, natural sadness that begged the mercy of miracle.

4. The object of the miracle was a woman, “full of good works and almsdeeds.“ We are kept a brief while in suspense as to the nature of her “good works,” but are at once apprised that her “alms“ are not almsgivings, but “almsdeeds.” So it is not an instance of a wealthy woman lamented from a very superficial sorrow of survivors. And then it proves that her “good works” (though we are not by any means constrained to suppose that they were literally all comprehended under this description) were such as to be sufficiently typified by the humble handiwork of scissors and needle and thimble, “coats and garments,” and these, not for the “rising generation” and “the hope of the nation,” but forsooth for “widows.” Yet it is such a person and such a woman who is restored to life, and no doubt to the humble but beneficent round of such a life again. And to this woman alone of women is given the space in all Scripture to tell the record in full of miraculous restoring of life. These are some of her ever-memorable characteristics.

(1) She worked, and was known for working, rather than for anything else.

(2) She worked “abundantly,” perhaps “more than they all.” She worked so abundantly that she is described as “full of good works.”

(3) Her works aimed at one thingbeing useful works, and they succeeded in attaining that at which they aimed. They succeeded because they were practical and not merely theoretical, practicable and not Utopian.

(4) She worked humbly and for the humble, and remembered the spirit of the proverb that bids not be so wasteful of what we have or what we are as to “cast our pearls before swine.” What waste there is in a world already poor, because that with labor and with material the right thing is not wrought nor offered to the right person! Yet Jesus taught his disciples against even this sort of error, when he told them to go and preach in other places when the people would not hear them where they were. He would not have any of us waste our time and his precious Word-seed, nor eat our heart in one place, when we might be enlarging it in another.

(5) She did what came first to dofirst to her own ability, first to her own means, first to the want that was nearest to her in place and nearest to her in feminine alliance, first to the suggestion of Providence, instead of first to the idle swellings of an ambitious heart within. And how often did God smile on that woman’s work, and Jesus own it, whose Spirit had first quickened the heart from which all came! But now, even now already, had come a day ripe for manifestation. There is to be a glorious “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” She who had loved so well and been beloved so well, snatched a day from sight and life, is restored to sight and life, still awhile longer to bless and be “blessed.”

II. THE DECISIVE MARKS OF RESPECT HERE PUT ON SIMPLE GRATITUDE, THOUGH IT WERE BUT GRATITUDE TO A FELLOW–BEING. The miracle, humanly speaking, owed its working to the deep feeling, so genuine and so earnest, which pervaded all who had known Dorcas. The feeling was the right kind of feeling, not wastefully overwhelming, but quickening to thought and action. Perhaps the illness was sharp and short. She is dead before they know how dangerously ill she is. But “the disciples” have their memory about them. They remember that they have heard of Peter at Lydda and of what he has been doing there for AEneas. It is eight miles off, but some of them soon clear the ground. And Peter does not feel affronted at being begged “not to delay.“ And he comes and sees how grieved all were. Evidently it little entered into the mind of the many that it was a case for a miracle of restoring to life. But love and gratitude and grief, without “anticipation of favors to come,” made the widows come with their impromptu exhibition of garments, and with their grateful reminiscences uttered forth. Well, that Peter was on the. spot was the result of a real feeling and gratitude; and come, he does not find himself come to a dead or a dead-alive Church and congregation. Far otherwise; and it was the very crisis and point of the occasion. Peter couldn’t help but recall the dear Master’s words and action, so far as they were apropos to the occasionand it was only in a degree that they were apropos to this occasion“Why make ye this ado and weep? the woman” (Mar 5:39). But no, he says no more at present, but he does just the same thing as Jesus did; he puts them all out, and goes and prays, and pleads and wins his instructions and his force alone. If dying should be a quiet scene, nor harsh sound of earthly life disturb its solemn experiences, who knows what the coming to life may be, and what it may require, and what may best suit it? Ah! perhaps in reality, not in merely the recovered life of this present, but in the real, perhaps there the waking life may open its eye to see “Jesus only” (as it was once on the Transfiguration Mount), and its ear to hear in newborn exquisite sense the whispering of Jesus. And that will ask peace and silence and the banishment of early life, its crowd of sight and of sound. But as the Lord appeared to Zacharias in the holy place, while the expectant people were shut without, so did the mighty Lord appear to Peter in that holy chamber, and from the upper chamber of death didn’t it become the antechamber of heavenly life indeed? And all this was condescending honor put upon human gratitude. It entered into “the ears of the Lord God of sabaoth,” and he descended with power to reward it.

III. THE DECISIVE MARKS OF HEAVEN‘S MOST KINDLY SYMPATHY WITH HUMAN LIFE–WANTS. The scene would seem almost unmatched in Scripture, in just this one respect. Here is no question of love direct to God, to Christ, to their work on earth as such. But it is an occasion of innocent feeling, yet earth’s sort of feeling; innocent excitement, yet caused, not by the loss of a great spiritual benefactor like the Master or like Stephen, but by the loss of a kindly, good-hearted, and most homely and neighborly benefactor. Yet the power of the Divine Spirit owns it. And as Jesus in the days of his flesh condescended to the genial atmosphere of the marriage feast, and made them yet more wine there, so does he in his perhaps yet mightier power, but certainly mightier majesty and glory, condescend to the sympathies and regrets of this widow group and disciples’ gathering. He reminds us surely of his constant, gentle, faithful care for us. “What we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed,”he shows us that he has not forgotten his early words hereupon, nor those other words, in which he has taught us that he will accept our works for his “little ones,” and for his poor and needy ones, as works done personally to himself.B.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Act 9:2

“The Way.”

This seems to have been the earliest name for what we now call Christianity. That it was used as a distinctive appellation of the Christian religion may be seen by comparing Act 19:9, Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14, Act 24:22. A fuller expression is employed in 2Pe 2:2, “By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of,” Our Lord had used the term in a very significant manner, saying, “I am the way (Joh 14:6); and the previous prophetic figure of the Messianic times”An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness ‘would be in the memory of the disciples, and therefore they would be likely to accept the term if it was first started by their persecutors. Compare the name “Christian,” which began as a taunt, and became accepted as an honorable title. In introducing this subject, reference may be made to the interesting fact that, from this point, Luke s record becomes almost entirely an account of St. Paul’s labors, probably because round him centered the missionary work of the early Church, and he was its greatest representative. The kind of religious authority over all Jews exercised by the Sanhedrim, and the limitations of its power to imprisonment and beating and excommunication, require consideration. Saul probably went to Damascus for two reasons

(1) because in the scattering the disciples were likely to have found shelter there; and

(2) because many Jews dwelt there, and especially those Greek Jews, who were most likely to become converts to the broad principles as taught by Stephen’s party. It was against this particular party that Saul was so greatly incensed. Their teaching most effectually plucked the ground from beneath mere formal Judaism. Reverting to the term, “the Way, as descriptive of the Christian religion, and filling it with the larger meaning of our later knowledge, we may notice that it is

I. A WAY OF THINKING. It is characteristic of Christianity that it has its own peculiar way of thinking about

(1) God,

(2) man,

(3) sin,

(4) redemption.

Its “way of thinking” is placed under the guidance of special Divine revelation. And the starting-point of its thinking is that God has, “in these last days, spoken unto us by his Son.” Probably the exact reference in this verse is to that “way of thinking” which Stephen introduced and taught, because that appeared to present special points of antagonism to the doctrine and authority of the Sanhedrim. There is still a “way of thinking” characteristic of Christ’s disciples. With a large liberty there are well-defined lines beyond which the thinking, being unloyal to Christ, is unworthy of the Christian name.

II. A WAY OF FEELING. Every true disciple is distinguished by his admiration for, his trust in, and his love to, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the early Church the loyalty and the love were so strong that the disciples could endure shame and death for his sake. And still our “way of feeling” about Christ should mark us off from all the world; men should “take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus,” that he has won our very hearts, and that to us henceforth “to live is Christ.” Impress the important bearing of sustained high feeling on the power and joy of the Christian life.

III. A WAY OF WORKING. Besides the general modes of working characteristic of Christians, for the glory of God and the good of men, attention should be given to Stephen’s way of working against mere formalism and ritualism, and in favor of spiritual religion; and the need for similar “ways of working” in each recurring over-civilized period should be impressed.

IV. A WAY OF LIVING. By their fruits of godliness and charity the early Christians were known. The Christian “way” is a “way of holiness,” not of mere separateness, but of consecration; a way of laying all possessions or attainments on God’s altar, and a way of using all powers and opportunities for God’s service.R.T.

Act 9:6

The power of a revelation.

There are solemn seasons in the life of every man, e.g. birthdays, times of sickness, first leaving home. Of all such days, perhaps the most solemn, the one with the wider consequences, is the time of our conversion. It is not usual for the Scriptures to give uswhat we find in modern biographiesdetailed accounts of the precise experiences of such times; e.g. of Lydia we only know that “the Lord opened her heart,” and of the jailor at Philippi that, in sudden alarm, he cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” We may, therefore, ask why so full an account is given us of the experience of Saul of Tarsus? The answer is found in his subsequent prominence as a Christian missionary, and in the necessity for assuring the fact that so bitter a persecutor and so zealous a Pharisee was really changed into a disciple. Some have further suggested that he was intended, in the Divine providence, to take the place from which Judas by transgression fell, and that it must be publicly known how he had received his direct commission from the risen Lord, if he was to be recognized as one of the apostolic band. The conversion of men is, in mode, as varied as are their minds, characters, and circumstances. Yet there are some essential things which may be well studied in connection with this narrative of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.

I. SAUL‘S PREPARATION FOR RECEIVING A DIVINE REVELATION. Every true conversion is effected by a revelation of God to the soul. It need not be a visible revelation, such as was suitable to other times. It must be an awakening of the soul to the apprehension of Divine things, and a direct dealing of God with the awakened soul. This cardinal truth must never be lost sight of in our active use of Christian means and agencies. The unregenerate man does not know God; he cannot apprehend the holiness, the claim, or the love of God. These must be unfolded to him by revelation. As illustrations of what is meant by” conversion by revelation,” see the vision of God to Jacob at Bethel, and the voice of God to Samuel in the night hours, when he was but a youth. But the capacity to receive a Divine revelation depends on previous preparations, and we have to inquireHow was Saul of Tarsus prepared? In answer the following things must be carefully treated:

1. His education and early associations as a Jew and as a Pharisee. This involved considerable knowledge of Scripture, and a theory of the possibility of Divine communications with the individual.

2. His naturally impulsive and impetuous disposition, which led him to undertake things in an intense way, but left him exposed to the peril of sudden change of opinion and conduct, and to the danger of giving up an enterprise as suddenly as he had begun it. This disposition prepared him to be influenced by the sudden surprise on the Damascus road.

3. The ideas about Jesus Christ which he gained from the party at Jerusalem to which he belonged. Those ideas rested altogether on thin proposition: “The impostor Jesus is not risen from the dead.” If it could be proved or shown that he was, then the whole doctrine concerning him held by Pharisee and Sadducee fell down about them, as a house built on the sand in a day of storms. And so God overrules men’s lives now to prepare them for his revelations. Illustrate by the ways in which

(1) the satiety of pleasure,

(2) the pollutions of vice,

(3) prolonged skepticism,

(4) failure of efforts,

(5) serious illness,

(6) the naturally inquiring mind, or

(7) sudden bereavements, are overruled to become Divine preparations for our” days of grace.”

II. THE EFFECT OF THE REVELATION ON THE MIND OF SAUL. To his Jewish notions the light from heaven would seem to be manifestly Divine, and his first thought would be that God was honoring him with a commission to exterminate the Nazarenes. It must have come to him with startling and painful surprise that the voice speaking from heaven to him should be the voice of Jesus of Nazareth. His prejudices were crushed down in a moment. Jesus was not an impostor; he was accepted of God. Jesus was not dead; he spoke out of heaven. In Saul’s response there is: 1. Conviction. If Jesus is after all the Messiah, then what have I been doing? Nothing less than fighting against the God I thought I was serving. There was no need for him to search his life and try to find every particular sin; for he felt the sin of unbelief. And unbelief is sin against every attribute of God, against his

(1) justice,

(2) holiness,

(3) wisdom,

(4) love.

Observe that this conviction of sin was felt by one who was outwardly moral. And the true conviction is not the finding of some dark, polluting deeds in our life; it is the feeling of the pollution, the godlessness, the self-seeking of our evil hearts. In his response is:

2. Penitence. Men may be convicted, and go no further. Penitence involves

(1) the sense of sin as committed against God,illustrate by sentences of David, Peter to Ananias, and Prodigal Son;

(2) sorrow for sin and earnest purpose to forsake it;

(3) submission, as in this incident the proud Pharisee becomes as simple as a child;

(4) surrender, a special act of yielding will and heart and life to Christ.

What, then, is essential to a true conversion to God?

(1) Not any particular form of experience,

(2) not any precise time, but

(3) the sense of sin and

(4) a full surrender to Christ.

The difference between common faith and saving faith is mainly thissaving faith is faith with a sense of need and personal application.

III. THE EVIDENCES THAT SAUL HAD RECEIVED A DIVINE REVELATION.

1. Changed inward life: “Behold, he prayeth!”

2. Changed outward conduct. Contrast him keeping the clothes of them that slew Stephen, and preaching at Damascus the very faith he had sought to destroy.

Appeal to those whom God has been preparing by his providential orderings to receive his revelation. Maybe that revelation comes through this message. If so, what will your response to it he?R.T.

Act 9:8, Act 9:9

Blind eyes, but open soul.

Attention is invited to what is suggested by the interesting fact that, after seeing the vision, Saul remained blind, and so absorbed in thought as to be wholly indifferent to food, for three days. That there are miraculous features in the circumstances attending Saul’s conversion can hardly be denied, but some incline to exaggerate the miraculous features, while others put them under too severe limitations. We need not assume a miraculous blindness, or so serious a matter as a lightning stroke. The phenomena rather suggest a sunstroke of a severe but temporary character. In the Divine order this was arranged to give the surprised and humbled man an opportunity for quietness and loneliness, that he might carry on, and carry out to a conclusion, the conflict which had been begun by hearing the voice of him whom he had called the Nazarene impostor speaking from heaven, and speaking words of power and command to him. And it was also designed as a continuing physical effect which would assure Saul of the reality of his heavenly vision. In endeavoring to estimate the thoughts of Saul’s time of blindness, consider that

I. SAUL HAD KNOWLEDGE. General knowledge, as an educated man, belonging to the well-to-do classes. Special knowledge, as trained in the best Jewish schools; especially as having a kind of collegiate culture, as a Pharisee, in the highly esteemed school of Gamaliel. And a precise and wide knowledge of both Holy Scripture and rabbinical tradition, which must have included the grounds for expecting the coming Messiah the Prince. Saul would not need even his Bible in those lonely hours, for memory brought abundant subjects of thought. Illustrate the advantage of early teaching of God’s Word. Thus we become prepared to make the best of the sudden occasions of life.

II. SAUL HAD NOW GAINED THE KEY TO HIS KNOWLEDGE. The key was thisthe Messiah has come. He was Jesus of Nazareth. He is risen, living, exalted. Show how this cleared the mystery from the fact that Jesus had been a sufferer, and brought light on the spiritual character of the Messiahship. Illustrate by the preaching of Philip to the eunuch. But

III. SAUL NEEDED A TIME OF QUIETNESS FOR THE DUE APPLICATION OF THIS KEY. It had to explain the prophecy that Messiah should be born at Bethlehem, and be of the lineage of David. It must explain the figures of the King and Conqueror under which Messiah had been presented. Saul must think over the grounds on which his prejudiced opposition had rested, and over all that was involved in the proved fact that Jesus was risen from the dead and had won God’s acceptance. For with his eyes blinded, and the ordinary cravings of his body dead, Saul saw with his soulspiritual things were gaining clearness. Set out what Saul began to see with his soul, concerning Jesus, concerning his own past and future, and show what revulsions of feeling in such an impulsive man the new soul-visions occasioned. In practical application, dwell on the desire for loneliness and quietness; and for meditation, which those feel who are, by any gracious agency, smitten with conviction; and the relations of such quiet times to full decision and consecration. So much good work begun in souls is lost, proving but as” morning cloud and early dew,” for want of quiet meditative times following upon convictions and impressions. Seasons of loneliness, meditation, and prayer are as truly needed for newly awakened souls, as shady, covered times for slips, or plants, newly potted, in order that they may get safe-rooted. Those who are wise to win souls will learn of God’s providing this blind season for the awakened and humbled Saul.R.T.

Act 9:15

God’s chosen vessels.

Take the single sentence, “He is a chosen vessel unto me;” literally, “a vessel of election.” Illustrate by the apostle’s own figure of the “potter having power over the clay,” and refer to prophetic illustrations taken from the potter’s wheel and art. Here, however, the meaning of “vessel” may rather be “instrument,“ or “tool.” In every age God has called forth special workers, fitted for the occasions; “with the hour always comes the man.” In the ordering of God’s providence, the time had come for the extension of Christianity to the Gentiles, and now we are directed to Saul as God’s chosen vessel, or instrument, for this work. From his case may be illustrated the following points concerning “God’s chosen vessels:”

I. THEY ARE PREPARED FOR THEIR WORK BY HIS PROVIDENCE, After showing how Saul was being fitted by his earlier experiences, find further illustration in the earlier careers of Joseph, Moses, David, etc. And show how our Lord’s secluded life at Nazareth may be regarded as his preparation-time. Careful observance of men and life and work now brings again and again to view the wonderful ways in which they have been prepared for the stern work of their full manhood. The fact is so fully recognized as to have passed into a proverb, and we say, “The child is father to the man.” Then it follows that the wise training of our children should include the careful culture of any special gift or endowment of which we may see indications.

II. THEY ARE FOUND IN GOD‘S OWN TIME. It is not enough that a man should find out what he can do; he must wait on God to teach him the time for the doing, and the sphere in which his work is to be done. Saul had yet to wait some time before his life-sphere was pointed out to him. But we need have no fear. Willing servants are never left idle, and when God’s work is ready he will call to it the workmen he has prepared. A North-country proverb is, “The tools come to the hands of him who can use them;” and God’s people can tell strange stories of the gracious orderings of providence that brought their great life-work to their hands.

III. MIGHTY TO DO THE LORD‘S WORK. Because the appointment to a particular service carries with it the assurance that sufficient grace for the work will be given. Fitness is not enough, if it stand alone; it must be followed up by daily grace for efficient working. Compare Moses willing to go on to further journeyings only if the Lord would go with him; and the Apostle Paul “able to do all things through him who strengthened him.” We can always do what God calls us to do. We are wrong, as Moses, Jeremiah, and Jonah were wrong, if we shrink back or flee from the Lord’s work.

IV. ACKNOWLEDGED BY GOD‘S OWN PEOPLE. Sooner or later, God’s chosen vessels are found out by the Divine signs which accompany their labor. There may be temporary prejudice on account of their former life, as in the case of Saul, or on account of the particular form and feature of their work; but if God acknowledges a man’s service with his benedictions, God’s people arc usually ready to acknowledge it too. If in a very strict sense some only can be called “God’s chosen vessels,” in a large and comforting sense the term may be applied to all God’s people, for each of whom he surely finds work and the grace needed for doing it well.R.T.

Act 9:20

Saul’s first sermons.

Revised Version, “And straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God.” “The point to which all the effort of the apostle was first directed was naturally the Messiahship of Jesus, and that in the higher view in which Christianity exhibits the Messiah, namely, as the Son of God” (Olshausen). Very different ideas are entertained as to the advisability of encouraging young converts to begin preaching at once. The difficulty arose in the China mission field, and the new convert earnestly pleaded to be allowed to tell the little he did know, and so grow to know more. This principle Saul followed, beginning at once to “preach the faith which once he destroyed,” and he made the opportunities just where he was, going into the synagogues, and using his privilege as a rabbi to read and expound the Scriptures. The text briefly indicates what truth Saul had gripped, and, taken with Act 9:22, it shows how large his grip was, and that it concerned the very basis-truth of Christianity. He saw that

I. THE CHRIST HAD COME. Explain that “Christ“ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Messiah,“ and would often be wisely changed for the Hebrew term. Deal with

(1) the foregoing prophecies of Messiah, showing how they had given tone to the national and religious sentiment;

(2) the actual expectation of the coming of Messiah about that time, which seems to have possessed both the Jews and the Gentiles. The practical question dividing public opinion at the time was the question which divides the Jew anti the Gentile up to this present hour; it was thisHad Messiah come, or had he not come? Saul was now able to deal with this question, and he proclaimed openly that Messiah had come. Show the importance of this step, and how it narrowed the field of inquiry for all those pious souls who “looked for redemption in Israel.”

II. THE CHRIST CAME IN THE PERSON OF JESUS OF NAZARETH. The better manuscripts give the reading, “preached Jesus.” If Messiah had conic, had he been recognized, and acknowledged? Saul firmly answered,” Yes; Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth, the Prophet, Teacher, Healer, holy Man, who was crucified, had risen from the dead, and was exalted to heaven.” Surely this was a great theme for his preaching, one demanding explanation, argument, evidence, and the “accent of his own conviction.” But Saul had seen more than even this, and so further proclaimed that

III. JESUS THE CHRIST WAS THE SON OF GOD. Explain that term as

(1) compared with “Son of man;” and

(2) as gaining to the apostles its deeper and fuller meaning.

To Saul had evidently come an insight into the glorious mystery of the Incarnation. He realized

(1) that Jesus was the Christ in a high spiritual sense;

(2) that Jesus was entrusted with a present power to save and to sanctify;

(3) that Jesus had Divine rights, and made Divine claims to the immediate surrender to him of the heart and will and lives of men. So it is evident that Saul grasped at once the very essence of the gospel, and the very center of that doctrinal system which, urged by the necessities of the Churches, his genius developed. There is still no more searching test of our religious condition than can be found in the question, “What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?” If we feel that we must say, “He is the Son of God,” then we are bound to bow our souls before him, seek his grace, accept his salvation, acknowledge his authority, and bind on our whole lives the livery of his service.R.T.

Act 9:31

The relation between edifying and multiplying.

For the precise meaning and the New Testament use of the term “edified,” consult the Exposition. The “rest” secured for the Church at this time followed partly on the removal of Saul from the party of the persecutors, in which he had been the most active member; none seemed ready to take up the work which had so completely dropped from his hands, and by his secession the whole party was depressed and disorganized. But it followed chiefly on the fact that the attention of the Jewish rulers was turned away from the disciples to resist an attempt made by Caligula to have his statue erected in the temple at Jerusalem. The importance of resting-times for nations, Churches, and individuals should be shown, and the ways in which they usually come may be pointed out. Their value is illustrated in connection with our text, from which it appears that when, in a resting-time, the Church was edified, it was found to be also multiplied; or, to express it in other forms, internal culture is the best guarantee of external success. We dwell on two things.

I. SOUL–CULTURE. AND ITS INTERNAL SIGNS. Piety, from the Christian point of view, is a new and spiritual life, With which our souls are quickened by the Holy Ghost. But in its beginnings it is young, feeble, untested life, like that of the young seedling or plant. Culture is demanded. The young life must be nourished into strength; and while the expressions of the life, in leaf and branch and flower, need to be watched and guided aright, the gardener’s supreme anxiety is to maintain and to increase the vitality. And so, while apostles give good counsel for the ordering of Christian conduct, their supreme anxiety concerns the culture of the soul’s life. They would have their disciples “grow in grace and in the knowledge [experimental] of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” It is to such forms of” edification” that Churches are directed in their quiet resting-times. Two signs were given as indicating that this “edifying“ work was healthily progressing.

1. There was holy walking. “Walking in the fear of the Lord.” Christian conduct and conversation was “as becometh the gospel of Christ.” The relations of the members to each other were kindly and brotherly, and the character of the disciples was increasingly satisfactory.

2. There were signs of heart-joy. The disciples were evidently enjoying the “comfort of the Holy Ghost “the inward sealing of the Spirit; the power of his impulses to righteousness, and that happy sense of adoption which he gives. When the soul is efficiently cultured, its signs are apparent in these two thingsjoy in God, and holy living. Joy in God includes joy in his worship and his work. Holy living includes the nourishing of all graces and virtues into fullness and beauty and power. Illustrate by the commendations of the living Christ to such Churches as Ephesus, Smyrna, and Philadelphia.

II. SOUL–CULTURE AND ITS EXTERNAL POWER. For evidently the two things, edification and multiplication, are intentionally connected, and the one is, in some important respects, the cause of the other. We may say that multiplying a Church is one of the certain consequences of its edifying, for the well-nourished and truly spiritual Church has power:

1. By its witness. Such life must find expression.

(1) There is the silent yet mighty force of its unconscious influence.

(2) There are the active labors to which it is inspired.

2. By its attraction. For wherever there is holy walking and evident heart-joy in God men are inclined to join the company. Such heart-joy all would find. Such holy walking seems to say, “Come with us, and we will do you good; for verily the Lord is with us.” Distinguish carefully between the spasmodic and impulsive successes of revival times, and the steady witness and work of edged Churches and edified Christians in all ages. And conclude by impressing the moral value of the forces that strictly tend to edification, such as the example and character of our saintly ones, and the labors of those who instruct in Christian truth and duty. Such forces are sometimes most imperfectly estimated and are even undervalued, because their results are not easily counted; yet God’s Word teaches us that in the way of edifying comes the truest power for multiplying.R.T.

Act 9:34

A bodily absent Christ may be a spiritually present power.

Attention is directed to the remarkable fact that St. Peter spoke to AEneas as if the Lord Jesus were actually present in the room; and that he was present is proved by the healing which followed upon the invoking of his power: “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole!” The words must have sounded very strangely to those who first heard them. They sound strangely to us. Jesus Christ was not there. No one saw him. No calming look from Jesus quieted the sufferer. No hand of Jesus touched and quickened into life the sickly man. No voice of Jesus spoke the words of healing power, The Jesus of Bethesda, and Nain, and Capernaum, and Bethany was not there. Some might have said, “Jesus is dead,” and might tell how they saw him die. And if others urged that nevertheless he lived, they might say, “Ah! yes; lives far away in heaven, among the angels.” They had seen him go up, and a white cloud sailed across and hid him from view; and since that day no human eye had looked into his face or seen the print of his feet. To many of us one of the gravest difficulties is to reconcile the apparent contradictionJesus is in the glory; Jesus is here. Jesus sits on the throne; Jesus dwells in the open, trusting heart. And our difficulty is not met by urging that Jesus himself is in the glory, but his influence is here, his power is here, his Spirit is here; for we do not want to know about his influence, but about his personal presence, which carries and assures his influence. What we find it so hard to realize is that the only true being is spiritual being. Christ is a spiritual being; we are spiritual beings; so we can be really together, though the material thing space may seem to be a woeful divider. Two spirits can come together; and if one spirit be weak, dependent, suffering, and the other strong, loving, and glorious, there may be wondrous and gracious intercommunions, and Jesus may make palsied AEneas whole. The striking thing in our text is the declaration that Jesus was actually there, and there to heal. Then we inquire

I. WHAT ARE THE EYES THAT CAN SEE SUCH A PRESENT CHRIST? For it is quite proper to say that both St. Peter and AEneas saw Jesus there. We so highly value the use of our bodily eyes that we fail to realize our soul-eyes. There are some striking instances in Scripture of the weakness of our bodily vision, and of our power to see what the eye never looks on; e.g. Sodomites wearying themselves to find the door; the prophet’s servant seeing the guardian angels all round the mountains; so Saul saw nothing, and yet everything, when smitten down at Damascus. See also the holden eyes of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. This eye of the spirit, that brings Jesus near, we call faith. It is to the soul what the eye is to the body. It strains through the spiritual atmosphere, and makes real and clear spiritual objects. And the present Christ, so beheld, becomes to us a comfort and a joy unspeakable; telling as a gracious elevator on our whole daily life, sanctifying everything with the conviction, Christ is with me here.

II. WHAT IS THE CONDITION WHICH CAN FEEL CHRIST‘S PRESENCE? Need and suffering, especially spiritual need and spiritual suffering, are the great quickeners of sensibility. The soul that needeth Christ soon makes the joyous discovery that Christ needeth the soul, and has already come seeking it. Sin-sick souls want the Physician nigh, and it is still the great gospel to men that we may stand before them and open and quicken their spiritual vision as we say, “Look! Jesus Christ maketh thee whole!”R.T.

Act 9:40

Apostolic and other resurrections.

There are only eight cases of resurrection from the dead recorded in the Bible. Elijah raised the widow’s son at Zarephath. Elisha raised the Shunammite’s son. By contact with Elisha’s body in his grave, a dead man was quickened. Our Lord raised the daughter of Jairus; the son of the widow of Nain; and Lazarus of Bethany. St. Peter raised the charitable Dorcas. St. Paul restored the fallen Eutychus. Keeping these cases in mind, we may compare them with the resurrection of our Lord, and learn much from the distinct peculiarities of his resurrection.

I. IN ALL OTHER CASES DEATH TOOK PLACE UNDER THE QUIET CONDITIONS OF ORDINARY DISEASE, BUT OUR LORD DIED BY A DEATH OF VIOLENCE. The little lad at Shunem was smitten by a sunstroke. The maiden at Jairus’s house was struck down by fever. Over the fading hours of Lazarus’s sickness loving sisters watched. Dorcas was for some days at least ill. Eutychus alone seems to have died by sudden accident. But our Lord’s was death in the prime of life, in the fullness of health and strength; death borne when all the human faculties were in full vigor and exercise; death by the band of violence; death judicially arranged; death voluntarily submitted to. Show that the difference is explained by our Lord’s relation to human sin.

II. OTHER RESURRECTIONS WERE EFFECTED THROUGH SOME HUMAN AGENCY, THE DIVINE POWER WORKED BY SOME HUMAN MEDIUM; IN THE CASE OF OUR LORD THERE WAS NO HUMAN AGENCY WHATEVER. At Zarephath and at Shunem there were prophets, prayers, and painful efforts, to which alone returning life responded. St. Peter went into the death-chamber of Dorcas, prayed, and spoke words of faith and power. Paul fell on and embraced the dead Eutychus. But our Lord “had life in himself,” and so he rose. In the gray of the dawning of that glorious Easter morn, he rose. No hand of power, no wizard’s wand, no prophet’s outstretched body, touched the sleeping King. He rose; that is all. Show what of his Divine nature is declared to us in this unique and sublime fact. He was “God manifest in the flesh.”

III. ALL OTHER RESURRECTIONS WERE MERELY TEMPORARY RENEWALS OF EARTHLY LIFE UNDER THE SAME OLD EARTHLY CONDITIONS. Lazarus was restored for just a few more years to his home and brotherhood, by-and-by to die again even as he died at first. Dorcas came back but to make a few more garments for the widows and the poor, and then to die again, and be hopelessly laid out for burial a second time in that upper chamber. Nobody was ever raised from the dead to live afresh sort of life under new conditions. They simply took up the thread of their old lives, as if there had been no strange break in them. The little lad ran out to his father among the reapers, just as he had done before that sad sunstroke. The maiden grew on into her womanhood as if she had never closed her eyes to the light in that time of burning fever. And the lad went to work again at Nain, to keep a home for his poor widowed mother. But in the case of our Lord there was no mere continuation of the old earthly life. The Resurrection links on to the Ascension, and Jesus risen is Jesus glorified.

IV. ALL OTHER PERSONS WERE BROUGHT BACK FROM THE GRAVE ONLY TO FALL INTO ITS POWER AGAIN. We think of them with feelings in which much sadness mingles; for they were twice dead. But “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” He liveth again; and now he liveth for ever. Man’s power to bless his fellow man is sorely limited; for he must die. Christ’s power to bless is unlimited; for he will never die. His resurrection was to a deathless and eternal life; there are no limitations that can ever check, on Christ’s side, the beneficent operations of his grace. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Act 9:1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings, &c. This is a very emphatical expression, and shews the implacable hatred which Saul bore to the Christian profession; and it must have increased his rage to hear, that those whom he had been instrumental in driving from Jerusalem, were so successful in spreading that religion which he was so eager to root out. The person now in the office of high priest, seems to have been Caiaphas, the inveterate enemy of Christ: he would therefore gladly employ so active and bigotted a zealot as Saul; and it is well known, that the Sanhedrim, however its capital power might have been abridged by the Romans, was the supreme Jewish Court, and had great influence and authority among their synagogues abroad. There are several disputes concerning the time of this transaction. Spanheim advances several arguments to prove, that it happened six or seven years after Christ’s death, about the fourth year of Caligula, in the year 40. Benson and others, agreeably to Pearson’s Chronology, think it was sooner; but the exact time cannot be fixed by any circumstances transmitted to us.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 9:1-2 . ] See Act 8:3 , hence the narrative does not stand isolated (Schleiermacher).

. . .] out of threatening and murder breathing hard at the disciples , whereby is set forth the passionateness with which he was eager to terrify the Christians by threats, and to hurry them to death. In , observe the compound , to which the . . belonging to it corresponds; so that the word signifies: to breathe hard at or upon an object; as often also in classical writers, yet usually with the dative instead of with . The expression is stronger than if it were said . . . (Lobeck, ad Aj. p. 342; Boeckh, Expl. Pind. p. 341). The genitives and denote whence this issued ; threatening and murder, i.e. sanguinary desire (Rom 1:29 ), was within him what excited and sustained his breathing hard. Comp. , Jos 10:40 ; , “Nonn. Dionys. 25; Aristoph. Eq. p. 437; Winer, p. 192 [E. T. 255].

] If the conversion of Paul occurred in the year 35 (Introduction, sec. 4), then Caiaphas was still high priest, as he was not deposed by Vitellius until the year 36 (Anger, de temp. rat. p. 184). Jonathan the son of Ananus (Joseph. Antt. xviii. 4. 3) succeeded him; and he, after a year, was succeeded by his brother Theophilus (Joseph. Antt. xviii. 5. 3).

, , the old capital of Syria, in which, since the period of the Seleucidae, so many Jews resided that Nero could cause 10,000 to be executed (Joseph. Bell. Jud. i. 2. 25, ii. 20. 2). It was specially to Damascus that the persecuting Saul turned his steps, partly, doubtless, because the existence of the hated sect in that city was well known to him (the church there may have owed its origin and its enlargement as well to the journeys of the resident Jews to the feasts, as to visits of the dispersed from Jerusalem); partly, perhaps, also, because personal connections promised for his enterprise there the success which he desired.

.], from which, consequently, the Christians had not as yet separated themselves. Comp. Lechler, apost. Zeit. p. 290.

The recognition of the letters of authorization at Damascus was not to be doubted, as that city was in the year 35 still under Roman dominion; and Roman policy was accustomed to grant as much indulgence as possible to the religious power of the Sanhedrim, even in criminal matters (only the execution of the punishment of death was reserved to the Roman authority).

] who should be of the way. The way, in the ethical sense, is here the Christian, i.e. the characteristic direction of life as determined by faith on Jesus Christ ( , Act 18:25 ), an expression in this absolute form peculiar to the Book of Acts (Act 19:9 , Act 22:4 , Act 24:14 ; Act 24:22 ), but which certainly was in use in the apostolic church. Oecumenius indicates the substantial meaning: .

, with the genitive in the sense of belonging to. See Bernhardy, p. 165; Winer, p. 184 [E. T. 244].

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

SECTION II
THE CONVERSION OF SAUL; HIS LABORS AND EXPERIENCE IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS.

Act 9:1-30.

_______
A.THE ZEAL OF SAUL IN PERSECUTING THE CHRISTIANS, CONDUCTS HIM TO DAMASCUS

Act 9:1-2.

1And [But] Saul, yet breathing out threatenings [breathing menace] and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2And desired [asked] of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found [should find] any [who were, ] of this way1, whether they were men or women, he might bring [conduct] them bound unto Jerusalem.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act 9:1. And [But] Saul.The following narrative is connected with the general course of this historical work by means of the particles and . The former particle [But, not And] exhibits the contrast between the hostile and destructive procedure of Saul, and the labors of Philip, which built up and extended the church, and which had just been described. The particle , on the other hand, connects the course of Saul, as here set forth, with his earlier acts, Act 8:3, and exhibits them as a continuation of the persecution of the Christians which he commenced at the time when Stephen was slain. The interval between the commencement and the present continuation of Sauls hostile course, does not appear to have been very brief, for Luke must have designedly inserted the two narratives contained in Act 8:5-40, between Act 7:58 (combined with Act 8:1; Act 8:3,) and Act 9:1. Hence, the present narrative is not introduced abruptly, or without regard to the connection. It is, moreover, evident, that the sentiments and feelings of Saul did not continue to be uniformly the same, but rather increased in intensity as time advanced. This fact is indicated by the terms: [for which genitives see Winer: Gram. N. T. 30. 9. c. and comp. Jos 10:40. LXX.Tr.]. They imply that menace and slaughter constituted the vital air which he inhaled (and exhaled); that is, the hostile sentiments with which Saul regarded the Christians, had acquired an intensely fanatical, destructive and sanguinary character, which does not yet appear to have been the case at the period to which Act 8:3 refers. It is, indeed, quite consistent with human nature, that when any passion has exercised an influence over an individual during a certain period, and been indulged to a certain extent, it should increase in violence and fury, identify itself, as it were, with his character, and constitute the principle of life for him; this observation specially applies to religious fanaticism. The course which Saul now intends to pursue, demonstrates that his fanaticism had acquired additional virulence.

Act 9:2. Desired of him letters to Damascus, etc.Hitherto Saul had contented himself with persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem; he now feels impelled to persecute the disciples of Jesus in other regions, even beyond the boundaries of the Holy Land. He determines to proceed to Damascus. This ancient capital of Syria, lying northeast of Jerusalem, and about 140 miles distant from it, was distinguished alike by its uncommonly beautiful situation, and by being the centre of a vast trade, and of important religious influences. It had passed, since the time of Pompey (B. C. 64), under the dominion of the Romans, and had been attached to the province of Syria. Many Jews had selected this city as their residence after the age of the Seleucid (Jos. War, ii. 20, 2), and this fact precisely agrees with the passage before us, which represents Damascus as having contained more than one synagogue ( , and comp. Act 9:20). But the tidings appear to have reached Jerusalem that there were also Christians in Damascus; these were converted Jews, since Saul views them as persons who were connected with the synagogues. The form of the conditional clause, , distinctly implies that he confidently expected to find such persons there. They are termed , that is, people who walk in the way, or, belong to that way [ depending on ; for the Gen. with see Winer, 30, 5]. The word does not of itself signify a sect, as some writers have erroneously inferred from Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4, but designates in general a particular mode of life and conduct; in its special application here, it denotes that way or manner of life which receives its peculiar character from faith in Christ as the Messiah.Luke has not informed us of the means by which the Gospel reached Damascus. The most probable supposition is, that individual Christians belonging to Jerusalem, who were driven away at the time of the persecution, had withdrawn to that large city (Act 8:4 ; comp. Act 11:19); if some of the fugitives proceeded as far as Cyprus and Antioch, others may have, still more probably, retired to Damascus, which was a nearer point. It is quite conceivable that these also proclaimed the Gospel when they reached the city, and thus became the means by which other Israelites who dwelt there, were converted (Act 8:4, ). Saul selected Damascus as the field of his intended operations, as he had perhaps understood that a larger number of Christians would be found there than elsewhere, or, possibly, because he was personally connected with certain inhabitants of the place. In order to accomplish his design and be enabled to seize any disciples of Jesus whom he might find in Damascus, and conduct them as prisoners to Jerusalem, where they would be subjected to a trial, he requests the high priest to furnish him with letters of recommendation and authorization. (The plural corresponds to the plural ; it would hence seem that he asked for several documents, intending to present one to each of the synagogues). The name of the high priest cannot be stated with entire confidence, as the year in which the conversion of Paul occurred is not known with, entire chronological precision. [Bengel assigns it to A. D. 31; Jerome, Petavius, 33; Baronius, 34; Meyer, Usher, Pearson, Hug, Olshausen, 35; Basnage, Alford, 37; de Wette, 37 or 38; Ewald, 38; L. Capellus, 39; Wieseler, 40.Tr.]. If that event did not occur later than the year 36, Caiaphas, who was displaced by Vitellius in that year, still acted as high priest. [See below, note on Act 23:4-5.]. He was succeeded by Jonathan, a son of Ananus [Annas]; in the next year, 37, the latter was, in his turn, displaced, and his brother Theophilus received the office (Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 3, and xviii. 5, 3). The last named was, probably, the high priest to whom Saul applied. Luke does not expressly state, but obviously implies that the high priest of course furnished the desired documents; he could, indeed, have personally had no motive for refusing to gratify the zealot who applied for means to sustain the ancient Judaism. Foreign Jews voluntarily recognized the authority of the high priest in Jerusalem, and, specially, that of the Sanhedrin, of which he was [usually, but at a later period, not regularly, Herzog, Real-Encyk. XV. 516.Tr.] the presiding officer, and which they regarded as the highest tribunal, in matters of religion. [In Act 26:10 (comp. Act 9:14 below) Paul says that he received his authority from the , and in Act 22:5, from the , which are merely different modes of designating the Sanhedrim. Hackett ad loc., and see below, Act 9:13-14, Exeg. note.Tr.]. And the experience of the Jews had taught them that, in a case like the present, the civil authorities [Roman] would offer no opposition to a measure represented to them as being directly connected with the internal religious affairs of the Israelites.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

Christ rules in the midst of his enemies. This truth derives a striking illustration from the fact that Sauls enmity and murderous purposes, which glowed with hellish fire, were so long permitted to harass, scatter and ravage the church. The historian does not relate that he reviled and blasphemed the Redeemer himself; but at a later period Paul confesses that he had been guilty in this respect, 1Ti 1:13. In the present narrative he appears only as a persecutor of the Lords disciples, or of his church. But his spiritual state becomes the more alarming in proportion as a carnal zeal, passion, and even a Satanic thirst for blood (, Joh 8:44), became mingled with his ignorant zeal of God [Rom 10:2], The flesh acquires increased influence whenever fanaticism ascends to a higher grade, and man, in his blind fury, becomes a ravening and bloodthirsty beast. To such a depth the Lord permits man to descend, in order to rescue him from the abyss and change his nature. The long-suffering of God waits unto the end, but divine grace never loses sight of the sinner, even when he rushes madly onward in his career. Sauls history furnishes a brilliant illustration of Gods love in Christ, to sinful mana love which seeks and saves even the most abandoned sinner. [1Ti 1:16.]

Footnotes:

[1] Act 9:2. [The margin of the English Bible (which in the text follows Tynd., Cranm., Geneva, and Rheims) offers the words of the way, as the literal translation of the phrase rendered in the text of this way; Gr. .Tr.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See below, Act 9:1019 a.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The wonderful History of Saul’s Conversion. The Effect it had upon the Jews. Peter healeth Eneas, and raiseth Tabitha from the dead.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, (2) And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

The Holy Ghost hath most graciously shown, in the history of Saul of Tarsus, to what a desperate height the human mind void of grace is capable of advancing, in malice and hatred, against the Lord, and that the church of Christ might learn, that there is no difference between one man and another, in the Adam-nature in which all are born; the Lord the Spirit hath here shewn in the example of one of the most eminent servants of Jesus, as he afterwards proved, what our state would do, while unawakened and unregenerated before the Lord: and what the Lord enables his people to do when called by sovereign grace from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan to the living God, I pray the Reader to enter upon the wonderful history here before us with prayer to the Lord the Spirit, that all his gracious designs in giving this relation to the Church, and frequently repeated as it is, may be blessed both to the Writer and Reader of this Poor Man’s Commentary; that in the perusal of it, w e may be made wise unto salvation through the faith that is in Christ Jesus. See Act 22 ; Act 25 ; Ga 1; 1Ti 1:161Ti 1:16 .

It should seem, that Saul at this time, had fairly routed all the preachers of the Gospel, which were at Jerusalem, excepting the Apostles; and that he made no attack upon them, we can only refer into the Lord’s sovereignty, such as Jesus exercised when on earth, in their personal protection. (See Joh 18:8 . and Commentary upon it.) And now the fury of his heart led him, as he said elsewhere, (Act 22:4 ; Act 26:9-11 ) to persecute them even unto strange cities; determining, if it were possible, to exterminate Christ and his Church from the earth. Reader! pause and contemplate the subject, for it is exceedingly momentous. Who should have thought, that in the very moment this man was thus aiming destruction at the Lord’s people, that he was himself a chosen vessel of Christ, and had been so from all eternity? Who that heard the blasphemy of the-man, and beheld the bitter cruelties he exercised on the Lord’s redeemed ones, compelling them to blaspheme; Act 26:11 , could have conceived, that the very mouth which breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, should soon preach Christ in all his fulness and glory; and to feel the salvation of souls so near his heart, as to wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren, his kinsmen after the flesh, Rom 9:3 . But what cannot the grace of God accomplish? What will it not accomplish, rather than one, whom the Father hath given the Son in an everlasting covenant which cannot be broken, should perish? Reader! I pray you at every step you take in this wonderful history, figure to yourself that you hear the man, whose conversion the Holy Ghost hath here so sweetly recorded, proclaiming in his own words, For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-sufferings for a pattern to them, which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, 1Ti 1:16 .

I stop the Reader in the midst of the history, to beg him to remark with me, that it is evident, both from the stoning of Stephen, the binding unto prison, and death, men and women, and Saul’s going to Damascus for the same purpose, the power of the Sanhedrim was not totally gone. But if he compares this part of Saul’s history here, with that part of it we meet with when he stood before the council to answer for his life, as related, (Act 22 ) and when the chief captain rescued him from them; he will perceive that a change had then taken place. And if he will prosecute the subject a little further, (and it is a subject of some moment to ascertain the point,) he will discover, that the Sanhedrim now no longer exercised their authority in cases of life and death. For when Festus declared Paul’s cause to Agrippa, he made this remarkable observation: It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him, Act 25:16 . And what a beautiful proof this is, in confirmation of Jacob’s prophecy, of the departure of the sceptre from Judah now Christ the Shiloh was come, and the gathering of the people to Christ was taking place in the earth! Gen 49:10 . See Commentary on Act 25:16 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Act 9

Dr. Marcus Dods wrote at the age of sixteen to his sister Marcia: ‘Do you ever get any Greek read now? I can tell you what I think a most beautiful passage Saul’s conversion in the Acts; you should read it, and also “Your old men shall dream dreams, etc.”‘

Early Letters, p. 30.

Reference. IX. 1, 2. F. D. Maurice, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 120.

The Making of an Apostle (The Conversion of St. Paul)

Act 9:1-9

This is the story of one of those profoundly significant events in history, on which the whole complexion of future thought and the course of future progress turn. St. Paul is one of those Titanic figures of the past about whom everything was on the large scale, both for himself and for the world. Intellectually, his views of truth have become a fundamental statement of the creed of nineteen centuries; practically, he is the master empire-builder of the kingdom of God in the world. He laid hold upon the largest conceptions of his time the Hebrew religion and the Roman Empire and he transformed them into the Christian Church.

But it was not by the natural development of his genius that he did this. Up to a certain moment in his career his powers were running to waste, spending themselves in the most futile ways. At that moment something occurred which revolutionised his whole life, an upheaval of the very foundations of the man. The word ‘conversion’ is sometimes so lightly used that many earnest people are inclined to avoid it. It often means simply the memory of an emotion, which has left the man without a master, and without a task. But the greatness of this man’s nature ensured the thoroughness of the change in him. Such a man’s conversion is a tremendous affair.

I. It is to the questions that Paul asked that day that we turn with even deeper interest. The first of them was, ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’ He bad felt before that all this persecution, this harrying of people at once so blameless and so inflexible, was far too cheap and easy a solution. Behind the new faith lay some mysterious power, that was good and not evil, associated with the name of Jesus. But though he had often before asked the question who Jesus was, yet it had been prejudice which asked it, while now it was conscience. He had been aggravated by the power of the dead Nazarene who thwarted him at every turn. Who was he, this haunting ghost, this troubler of his times? But now irritation has given place to shame, and conscience asks, Who art Thou, Lord? That change from prejudice to conscience was one point in which his question sets the type for such questions for ever.

II. Another is, that he asked it of Jesus himself. He had formerly asked it of the Rabbis of his day, and now he might have inquired of the Apostles. But he was done with the Rabbis now, and he expressly tells us that it was three years before he met the Apostles. It is this that explains his power. His truth was not a doctrine learned up by study; it was his direct experience, his first-hand knowledge of Jesus Christ.

III. Paul’s second question is practical, ‘What wouldst Thou have me to do?’ As the former sets us beside the springs of his thought, so this reveals the sources of his activity. For such a man as Paul, conversion without commission would have been a sham and therefore an impossibility. But the great point to notice is that it was as a commission that he received his lifework, and in that light that he always regarded it.

John Kelman, Ephemera Eternitatis, p. 27.

Act 9:3

What intensity of light, what brilliancy of vision, would be sufficient to change the belief and character of a modern man of the world or a professional politician? Paul had that in him which could be altered by the pathetic words of the Crucified One, ‘I am He whom thou persecutest’. The man of the world or the politician would evade an appeal from the heaven of heavens, backed by the glory of seraphim and archangel.

M. Rutherford, Miriam’s Schooling, p. 118.

The Conversion of Saul

Act 9:3-6

I. All who are brought into Christ’s kingdom are not brought by the same agency, but in the case of Saul of Tarsus there was need of very special agency. There was need for some such vision as this, for the essential qualification of an Apostle was that he should be an eye and an ear witness of Jesus as risen from the dead.

II. Now, secondly, there can be no question that this visit was supernatural. God draws and man consents; God teaches and man learns; God gives and man accepts.

III. Then the third point of interest is this, that the conversion was sudden.

IV. Further, we have in this case an illustration of the necessity of conversion.

V. We have here an illustration of the uneasiness of the sinful lot.

VI. Here we have an illustration how the best and the most can be made of a man.

G. Gladstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. p. 22.

Conversion of St. Paul

Act 9:4-6

Of all the followers of Christ, surely none had a life so full of interest and none had so great influence for the cause of Christ as St. Paul.

I. The Apostle’s Early Days. We are told that he was born of God-fearing parents. He early learned to keep righteousness and to walk according to the Law. In his early days he showed great promise and he was sent to Gamaliel to be trained and educated. The education of those days was different to that of our days. There was a prejudice against the use of any books except the sacred writings. At a meeting of learned men some passage of the Scriptures was taken as a text and made the subject of their conversation. Various interpretations were given, allegories were told and suggested, and the ancient writings on the subject quoted. At this discussion young students were present to listen and to ask questions, and it is probable that from this system of education St. Paul acquired his power of argument and his fluency of speech. We do not know of the social position of St. Paul’s parents. It is not possible to say whether they lived in affluent circumstances or whether they were people of humble origin. St. Paul speaks of his trade as being that of a tent-maker, but this does not necessarily imply that he had to labour with his hands for his living, for it was the custom amongst the Jews that every boy should be taught a trade.

II. His Conversion. The stoning of St. Stephen no doubt was a turning-point in the life of St. Paul. Augustine says that the Church owes St. Paul to the prayer of St. Stephen at that time. The spectacle of so much constancy, so much faith, so much love, could not possibly be lost. St. Paul went his way, but conscience began to work within him. To drown his conscience he took up the cause of persecution, and sought for letters patent to enable him to go to Damascus to arrest those he found of this Way, whether they were men or women, and commit them to prison. But he could not go on like this for ever. He could not for ever stifle his conscience. In the very midst of his work, as he was journeying to Damascus, the Lord met him, and his conversion changed the whole course of his life. Instead of persecuting Christians, he was to teach the faith which once he denied.

III. His Ministry. Immediately after we find St. Paul going forth and speaking to the people of Damascus, proving that this was the very Christ. But he could not remain in Damascus. As soon as the Jews got over their first astonishment at seeing this man, on whom they had relied to exterminate the Christians, as soon as they found that he himself was a Christian, they began to persecute him. He went into Arabia, the mountainous country where God spoke to Moses and Aaron and Elijah. He dwelt in solitude, conversing with his Lord and being instructed upon his future teaching. He went back to Jerusalem, however, and taught. His mission was to the Gentiles, and he began a life of suffering; but he was always full of zeal, full of energy, preaching the Gospel of Christ, teaching others that Christ had died for them, and bidding them turn from their evil ways, showing them that a life of surrender and devotion to Christ’s service is the life to be desired on earth.

IV. A Pattern to Us. This true and noble service for Christ should inspire us to be more like St. Paul, and to be more earnest, more fervent, more zealous in our daily life in upholding the cause of Christ, in striving to live such a life that we may turn others to Christ and let others take knowledge that we have been with Christ May we grow daily more like St. Paul, devoting and surrendering our lives to the service of Christ.

References. IX. 4-8. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iii. p. 356. IX. 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No. 709. J. G. Greenhough, The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, p. 260. IX. 5, 6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi. No. 1520. IX. 6. Phillips Brooks, The Law of Growth, p. 184. A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, pt. iii. p. 68. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for Saints’ Days, p. 58.. R. S. Storrs, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. p. 302. H. Wilmot-Buxton, Notes of Sermons for the Year, pt. i. p. 101. IX. 7. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p. 192.

Act 9:10

Me. Robert Hichens in The Holy Land (1910, p. 82) says: ‘The so-called house of Ananias, which is one of the few “sights,” is now a subterranean chapel, small and remarkably ugly. It has two altars, and belongs to the Latins, who celebrate mass in it every Thursday. The floor is of stone, the diseased-looking roof is stained with patches of blue and white. A few wooden benches stand before the altars. A chapel on this site is said to have been the first chapel used for Christian worship.’

References. IX. 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No. 1838. IX. 11. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Holy-tide Teaching, p. 55. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 16, and vol. xxxi. No. 1860. IX. 13-16. Ibid. vol. xvi. No. 944. IX. 15. Bishop Talbot, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 196. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons, (3rd Series), p. 1.

Act 9:15-16

It is laid in the unalterable constitution of things: none can aspire to act greatly, but those who are of force greatly to suffer.

Burke.

Act 9:16

Luther wrote on 10th July, 1518, to Wenceslaus Link of Nrnberg: ‘… But I hope I am a debtor to Jesus Christ, who perhaps says to me also: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake”. For if He does not say that, why has He placed me in the invincible office of this word? or why did He not teach me something else that I should say? This was His holy will. The more they threaten, the more I trust; my wife and my children are provided for; my fields, my house, my whole substance are all disposed of; my glory and fame already vanished. One thing only remains this weak and broken little body. If they destroy that, they will perhaps rob me of an hour or two of life, but they will not take away the soul. I sing with John Reuchlin, “He who is poor has naught to fear, for nothing can he lose, but he is joyful in hope, because he expects to gain”.’

Enders, Luther’s Briefwechsel, vol. 1. p. 211.

References. IX. 16. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (9th Series), p. 48. Bishop Westcott, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. iv. p. 36. Archbishop Alexander, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii. p. 10. IX. 18. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 252; ibid. (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 188. IX. 19-22. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 231. IX. 19-25. Ibid. vol. i. p. 78. IX. 20-22. Ibid. (7th Series), vol. v. p. 204. IX. 23-25. Ibid. vol. x. p. 351. IX. 26-28. F. D. Maurice, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 137.

The Man of Generosity

Act 9:26-27

Barnabas is one of those minor characters of Scripture who at once gain and lose by their proximity to a greater figure. He gains doubtless much from his relation to the gigantic figure of Paul, for it was in company with him that his best work was done. And yet, perhaps, he suffers more; for the friend with whom he walks is so colossal that we forget all when we see him.

Barnabas suffers more than this. He is known as the man who quarrelled with the great Apostle. The two men differed about Mark and parted, so far as we know, not to meet on earth. The Bible says nothing of the right and wrong of that quarrel. It states the matter impartially, and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. But our sympathies naturally go with the man we like best, and Barnabas has had less than justice from the lovers of Paul. It has been said that he was weak and Paul strong, and that he was justly punished by his after obscurity. Or at best, it is said, both were wrong and both suffered.

For my part I take a different view. I think Barnabas was in the right in this quarrel. A study of the passages where he is mentioned in the New Testament will, I believe, show that, and show that his motives there as elsewhere were of a noble kind. These passages are mainly three. There is, first, his selling his land for the poor; there is, secondly, his taking the suspected Saul by the hand and introducing him to the Apostles; and there is, thirdly, his quarrel over Mark, where he insists on giving that unfortunate young man another chance.

These passages are all of a piece. They set Barnabas before us as emphatically ‘ the man of generosity’. The first is generosity of the hand; the second is generosity of the mind; the third is generosity of the heart. Let us look at these three generosities to-night. They bring before us one of the finest types of manhood we can imitate the truly generous man.

I. Consider, first, his generous hand. He sold his property, and gave it all for Christ.

The generosity of that deed is measured not by what he gave, but by what he left. That is always so. Generosity is not a sum in addition. It is a sum in subtraction. A poor man’s penny is more than a rich man’s shilling. Christ sits over the treasury still, and to Him the two mites may be more than two sovereigns. Some of the most generous givers I have known were servant girls.

Barnabas is the man of generosity, not only because he gave much, but because that much was his all. Can you do that?

II. I pass now to the second phase of the generosity of Barnabas generosity of the mind.

It does not always happen that the man who is generous with his wealth is generous in his judgments of men. On the contrary, the wealthy giver is apt to be the narrow giver. He tends to become self-important, and is therefore apt to be got at by men who flatter him or further his cherished nostrums. Anything, therefore, that is out of the line of his accustomed thoughts is suspected and frowned upon. Hence, not always, but often, a generous pocket does not mean a generous mind.

It is a beautiful addition to the character of Barnabas that his mind was as open as his hand. A strange convert has come to the disciples the strangest ever seen.

Barnabas came forward. He took the young disciple by the hand, and gave him the weight of his influence the influence of wealth and character. He told of his wonderful conversion, of his retirement into Arabia, where for two years he had been wrestling with the problem of redemption by grace. ‘It is not sudden at all,’ he said. ‘Accept him, I beseech you,’ he added to the leaders of the Church. ‘Believe me, he is a gift from God. Let not prejudice mar “a chosen vessel” of the Holy Spirit.’

That saved Paul, and when at Antioch a little later a new move was started, it was the same Barnabas who sought him out again, and put him to the work. He was the introducer of the Apostle of the Gentiles to his life’s work.

III. Once more we see in Barnabas, not merely a generous hand and a generous mind, but also a generous heart. He made allowance for the weaknesses of men.

This brings us to the most painful thing in his life his difference with Paul. In his first mission tour he had taken so prominent a place that the Lystrians had called him ‘the King of the Gods,’ while Paul was only his ‘chief speaker’. But now Mark has come between them. He had played the coward in that first journey, and gone home ‘to his mother’; but he was very sorry, and wanted to make amends for the past. ‘But no,’ says Paul

He that will not when he may,

When he will, he shall have nay.

‘Ah, but you must not be too hard,’ says Barnabas. ‘Though he failed once, he need not fail a second time’ ‘I can’t help it,’ said the great Apostle. ‘This is a difficult service. I must have reliable men.’ ‘I will answer for him this time,’ said Barnabas. ‘No,’ was the reply. ‘It must not be. He won’t come with me!’

And the quarrel was so sharp that they parted, never in Scripture story to meet again. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. Paul took Silas and sailed into the world. Never again do we hear of him visiting the isle, where, tradition says, Barnabas laboured faithfully till he died.

Be generous in hand, in mind, in heart that is the threefold message of Barnabas.

W. Mackintosh Mackay, Bible Types of Modern Men, p. 89.

Reference. IX. 29. W. H. Evans, Sermons for the Church’s Year, p. 232.

Act 9:31

The history of the nineteenth century cannot be concluded in the words, ‘Then had the Churches rest’. Unquestionably there are numbers within them who have found rest… Undoubtedly there are numbers of men whose reflections are naturally directed into healthy and spiritual channels, and are undisturbed by the seethe and turmoil of the age. We are, however, engaged not in considering our age as a whole, but one feature of it that of unrest. And no one with any just appreciation of his day will deny that there are hundreds of men, and especially of young men, who might be giants in the cause of righteousness and purity, but who are inefficient because they find no solid ground beneath their feet.

T. J. Hardy, The Gospel of Pain, pp. 24, 25.

References. IX. 31. Archbishop Benson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p. 182. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iv. p. 89; ibid. (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 92. IX. 32-35. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1315. IX. 34. Brooke Herford, Courage and Cheer, p. 178. IX. 36. A. H. Bradford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. p. 28.

Act 9:36 ; Act 10:4

Compare Charlotte Bronte’s criticism of Miss Kavanagh’s Women of Christianity: ‘She forgets, or does not know, that Protestantism is a quieter creed than Romanism; as it does not clothe its priesthood in scarlet, so neither does it set up its good women for saints, canonise their names, and proclaim their good works. In the records of man, their almsgiving will not perhaps be registered, but heaven has its account as well as earth.’

References. X. 1. A. 6. Mortimer, The Church’s Lesson for the Christian Year, pt. iii. p. 80. Expositor (5th Series), vol. iv. p. 194. X. 2. Christianity in Daily Conduct, p. 31. X. 2-4. Expositor ( 5th Series), vol. ix. p. 219. X. 3. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. iv. p. 448.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Chapter 25

Prayer

Almighty God, let our hunger be a cry unto heaven. We would hunger and thirst after righteousness, for in so doing we shall be blest with thine own fulness. Thou dost give unto all men liberally, and in thy voice there is no upbraiding tone. Giant unto us now, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Intercessor, grace upon grace. We would have fulness of blessing, yea, we would be filled with all the fulness of God. Our heart’s desire is that we may be lifted up from the dust into the clear light which shines in the upper places of thy kingdom. We are tired of the earth. We feel that we are greater than our prison. We would break the bars and flee away to the place where the morning rises, and where the mid-day shines in full glory. This impatience comes of the ministry of thy grace. Once we were contented with the dust; once we needed but one little world; once we had no eyes but those of the body, and then we were satisfied with mean things. But we are new creatures in Christ Jesus; yea, we have been with Jesus, and have learned of him. We remember what he said about our Father’s house, and the angels, and the sunlight hereafter, in which we are to conduct our study and our services. We have entered into a glorious liberty. It is not merely liberty enough, it is freedom upon freedom, world upon world, yea, an infinite inheritance of liberty. Whilst we are here, may we do thy will with all simplicity, obedience, and joyfulness of heart. May we take nothing away from thy law, nor impair in any degree thy righteousness. May we rather seek to do our utmost to make our calling and election sure. Enable us to bear the petty troubles of the day, and to take them as having some good meaning, if we could but find it. May we know our own divinity as sons of God through the Cross of Christ, and not allow ourselves to be fretted and chafed into spiritual meanness by the trifles of a moment. In thy Son, our Saviour, give us such a hold of other worlds as shall enable us to use the present without abusing it. In the night time, and in the hour of darkness, show us some of the other worlds in vision. Even in the quietness and silence of the night, come into our imagination and reveal what our senses are unable to comprehend. In the silence speak to us as thou only canst whisper to the heart. Recall our best days; the altar where our noblest prayers were uttered do thou ever set before our eyes. Gather together all our vows and oaths, and promises of better life, and enable us to repeat them, every one, by the grace of Christ, and in his strength to renew our early devotion to his Kingdom. Pity us in all our weariness, and littleness, and want of perception, and remember that we were born yesterday, and that we are here but until to-morrow. Spare thine anger; loose not against us the bolts of thy wrath, but take us into thy great compassion and sustain us daily by thy tender mercy.

For all the little joys that come to us on the road we bless thee. For the sweet spring time and the summer flowers, and the singing birds, for all the little surprises of love that make the day glad; for friendly letters, and loving messages, and graspings of the hand that mean trust and grace; for all encouragements that make us more hopeful in the time of difficulty, we would bless thee and we would regard them as hints of thine own inspiration and daily benediction.

We remember our loved ones who are not here. The father and mother at home, near at hand, or far away. The traveller who has left us, but in his leaving has also given promise of return. For all who are in sorrow, trouble, and difficulty, we pray thy guidance and thy sanctifying blessing. May the dying die without knowing it, because of the fulness of the triumph of grace in their hearts. Strengthen us during the few little days we have yet to live, and so cause the light of Christ to fall upon us that we may see the true littleness of earth, and the magnitude of the heaven to which we are hastening. Thus may we live in the power of an endless life. And being rooted in Christ’s eternity, we cannot die. Amen.

Act 9:1-22

1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2. And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias: and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.

12. And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

19. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

21. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?

22. But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

The following exposition of Act 9:1-22 is reprinted from The Cambridge Bible for Schools, and is here given as one of the clearest and most condensed with which I am acquainted:

1. And [But] Saul, yet breathing out threatenings [threatening]. It is better to translate the conjunction adversatively here, as the new subject is not connected except with the first sentence of chap. viii. The verb in this clause should be rendered “breathing,” not “breathing out.” Threatening and slaughter was, as it were, the atmosphere in which Saul was living.

and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord ]. We are not told of any other death, but Stephen’s, in which Saul was a participator, but we can gather from his own words ( Act 26:10 ) “when they were put to death, I gave my voice [vote] against them,” that the protomartyr was not the only one who was killed in the time of this persecution. It has been suggested that the zeal which Saul shewed at the time of Stephen’s death led to his election into the Sanhedrin, and so he took a judicial part in the later stages of the persecution, and, it may be, from a desire to justify the choice of those who had placed him in authority, he sought to be appointed over the enquiry after the Christians in Damascus. We gather from Act 26:10 , that before this inquisitorial journey he had been armed with the authority of the chief priests in his search after the Christians in Jerusalem.

went unto the high priest ] who would most likely be the authority through whom the power, which the Great Sanhedrin claimed to exercise, in religious matters, over Jews in foreign cities, would be put in motion.

2. and desired of him letters ] These are the papers which constituted his “authority and commission” ( Act 26:12 ). From that passage we learn that the issuing of these papers was the act of the whole body, for Paul there says they were “from the chief priests.”

to Damascus ] Of the history of this most ancient ( Gen 14:15 ) city in the world, see the Dictionary of the Bible. It had from the earliest period been mixed up with the history of the Jews, and great numbers of Jews were living there at this time, as we can see from the subsequent notices of their conduct in this chapter. We are told by Josephus ( B. J. 11. 20. 2) that ten thousand Jews were slaughtered in a massacre in Damascus in Nero’s time, and that the wives of the Damascenes were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion.

to the synagogues ] As at Jerusalem, so in Damascus the synagogues were numerous, and occupied by different classes and nationalities. Greek-Jews were sure to be found in so large a city.

that if he found any of this way ] Better, “any that were of the Way.” The name “the Way” soon became a distinctive appellation of the Christian religion. The fuller expression “the way of truth” is found 2Pe 2:2 ; and the brief term is common in the Acts. See Act 19:9 , Act 19:23 , Act 22:4 , Act 24:14 , Act 24:22 .

whether… men or women ] We can mark the fury with which Saul raged against the Christians from this mention of the “women” as included among those whom he committed or desired to commit to prison. Cp. Act 8:3 and Act 22:4 . The women played a more conspicuous part among the early Christians than they were allowed to do among the Jews. See note on Act 1:14 .

he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem ] That the whole authority of the Great Sanhedrin might be employed for the extinction of the new teaching.

3. And as he journeyed ] There were two roads by which Saul could make his journey, one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damascus, and kept near the coast line of the Holy Land till it struck eastward to cross the Jordan at the north of the Lake of Tiberias. To join this road Saul must have at first turned westward to the sea. The other way Led through Neapolis and crossed the Jordan south of the Sea of Tiberias, and passing through Gadara went north-eastward to Damascus. We have no means whereby to decide by which road Saul and his companions took their way. The caravan road was a distance of one hundred and thirty-six miles, and occupied six days for the journey.

he came near Damascus ] The original is more full. Read, “it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus.” The party must have reached the near neighbourhood of the city, for his companions ( Act 9:8 ) “led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus” after the vision.

and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven ] In Act 22:6 we are told that the time of day was “about noon” when the vision was seen, and in Act 26:13 , Paul says that at “mid-day” the light was “above the brightness of the sun.” The mid-day glare of an Eastern sun is of itself exceedingly bright, and the hour was chosen, we cannot doubt, in order that “the glory” of this heaven-sent light should not be confounded with any natural phenomenon. It was in the midst of this glory that Christ was seen by Saul ( 1Co 15:8 ), so that he can enumerate himself among those who had beheld the Lord after His resurrection.

4. And he fell to the earth ] Dazzled by the intense brightness. From Act 26:14 we find that not only Saul but his companions were struck down by the light, though there was more in the vision which he beheld than was made evident to them, and by reason of the greater glory which was manifested to him, his natural sight was blinded.

and heard a voice ] We cannot represent in English the different case of the noun in this verse, and in 7. The Greek puts here the accusative case and there the genitive, and thus indicates that there was a difference in the nature of the hearing of Saul and of his companions. And Paul in Act 22:9 marks the distinction in his own narration, for he says “They heard not the voice (accusative) of him that spake to me.” As this difference is made both in St. Luke’s first account, and in the speech of St. Paul at Jerusalem, it seems reasonable to accept the explanation which has long ago been given of this grammatical variation, and to understand that Saul heard an articulate sound, a voice which spake to him, while his companions were only conscious of a sound from which they comprehended nothing. St. Paul then is precise when he says “they heard not the voice” which I heard, and St. Luke is correct when in Act 22:7 he says “they heard a sound.”

saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? ] It is very noteworthy that in all the three accounts of the vision the Greek text of Saul’s name is a transliteration of the Hebrew, shewing that we have here a very close adherence to the words of Jesus. The Lord spake in the language of his people, and both the Evangelist and the Apostle have preserved for us this remarkable feature of the heavenly address. The only other place where the Hebrew form of Saul’s name is retained is in the speech of Ananias when (ix. 17) he comes to see the convert in his blindness. As he also had received a communication from Jesus in connection with Saul’s conversion, we can understand how the same form of the name would have been given to him. Moreover he was himself, to judge from his name, a Hebrew, and therefore that form would be most natural on his lips. Except in these cases St. Luke always employs the Greek form of the word.

Christ speaks of himself as persecuted by Saul, because “in all the affliction of his people he is afflicted” ( Isa 63:9 ), and “whoso toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye” ( Zec 2:8 ).

5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? ] Saul is sensible of the Divine nature of the vision, and shews this by his address. The appearance of Christ, though in a glorified body, must have been like that which he wore in his humanity, and since Saul does not recognize Jesus, we may almost certainly conclude that he had not known him during his ministerial life.

And the Lord said ] The best texts have only “And he,” the verb “said” being understood.

I am Jesus whom thou persecutest ] In Act 22:8 St. Paul gives the fuller form of the sentence, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” By using this name, the being whose Divine nature Saul has already acknowledged by calling him “Lord,” at once and for ever puts an end to Saul’s persecuting rage, for he is made to see, what his master Gamaliel had before suggested ( Act 9:39 ), that to persecute Jesus was to “fight against God.”

it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him ] These words have been inserted here in some MSS. for the sake of making in this place a complete narrative by the combination and adaptation of the additional particulars given in Act 26:14 and Act 22:10 . It is easy to understand the desire which prompted such a combination. The best MSS. omit the words here, giving them where they more naturally find place, in the personal narratives of St. Paul himself.

6. Arise ] The MSS. which omit the above words insert a conjunction here. Read, But arise. Saul had continued prostrate as he had fallen down at the first.

and go into the city ] A proof that the party of travellers had arrived very nearly at Damascus. Tradition here, as in many other instances, has fixed on a spot as the scene of this Divine vision. It is placed outside the eastern gate, and about a mile from the city. Such a situation answers very well, but its fitness is the only ground for attaching any weight to the tradition.

and it shall be told thee what thou must do ] In Act 26:16-18 we have an abstract given by the Apostle of the labours for which Christ designed him, and the words in that passage are placed as a portion of the Divine communication made before Saul entered Damascus, but as in that narrative no mention is made of Ananias or his visit, we may conclude that we have instead a brief notice of the message which Ananias brought to him, and that therein is contained a declaration of what Jesus in the vision only spoke of as “what thou must do.”

7. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless ] Cp. Dan 10:7 , “I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them.”

Saul was not only furnished with authority, but also with men who were to carry out his intentions and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem. Painters have represented the travellers as riding on horseback, but there is no warrant for this in any form of the narrative.

stood here means “remained fixed,” “did not move.” They had been stricken down as well as Saul ( Act 26:14 ).

hearing a [the] voice ] On the variation of case here, and the probable difference of meaning, see note on Dan 10:4 .

but seeing [beholding] no man ] The verb is the same that is used by Stephen ( Act 7:56 ). “Behold, I see the heavens opened.” In their astonishment, and guided by the sound, Saul’s companions lifted up their faces to the sky, but as with the words so with the appearance of Jesus; it was unseen by all but one, but to him was manifest enough to form a ground of his confidence in his Apostolic mission: “Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” (1Co 11:1 .)

8. and [but] when his eyes where opened, he saw no man [nothing] The vision had struck him blind. He opened his eyes, but their power had been taken away. Thus his physical condition becomes a fit representation of the mental blindness which he afterwards ( Act 26:9 ) deplores: “I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”

but [and] they led him by the hand ] His companions saw all things as before, and were able to guide him who had started forth as the leader in their mission of persecution.

9. And he was three days without sight ] During this time we cannot but think the illumination of his mind was being perfected by the Spirit. He had been convinced by the vision that Jesus was risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. But more than this was needed for the preparation of this mighty missionary. He himself ( Gal 1:16 ) speaks of God revealing His Son not only to but in him, and that his conferences were not with flesh and blood, and we are told below ( Act 9:12 ) that the coming of Ananias had been made known unto him by vision. To this solemn time of darkness may also perhaps be referred those “visions and revelations of the Lord” which the Apostle speaks of to the Corinthians ( 2Co 12:1-4 ). While his bodily powers were for a time in suspense, he may fitly describe himself as not knowing whether what he saw was revealed to him “in the body or out of the body,” and it was the spiritual vision only which saw the third heaven and paradise, and the spirit heard those “unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

and neither did eat nor drink ] The mental anguish for a time overpowered the natural craving for food. The newly called Apostle was contemplating in all its enormity his sin in persecuting the Church of Christ, and though there were times of comfort and refreshing before Ananias came, yet the great thought which filled Saul’s mind would be sorrow for his late mad and misdirected zeal, and so the three days of blindness formed a period of deep penitence.

10-22. Saul’s sight restored. He preaches in Damascus.

10. And [Now] there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias ] Of this disciple we have no further mention in Holy Writ except in chap. Act 22:12 , where St. Paul describes him as “a devout man according to the Law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt” at Damascus. Whether he had become a Christian during the life of Jesus or was among the Jewish converts on the day of Pentecost or at some subsequent time, and had been forced to flee from Jerusalem by the persecution which followed on the death of Stephen, we are not told, but we can gather, from the words which he employs in expressing his reluctance to visit Saul, that he had much and trustworthy communication still with the Holy City, for he knows both of the havoc which the persecutor has caused, and of the purpose of his mission to Damascus. On the name Ananias see Act 22:1 , note.

and to him said the Lord in a vision ] As Saul had been prepared for the visit by a vision, so Ananias is by a vision instructed to go to him. Dean Howson’s remarks ( Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1. 101) on this preparation and its similarity to the preparation of Peter and Cornelius deserve to be dwelt on. “The simultaneous preparation of the hearts of Ananias and Saul, and the simultaneous preparation of those of Peter and Cornelius the questioning and hesitation of Peter and the questioning and hesitation of Ananias the one doubting whether he might make friendship with the Gentiles, the other doubting whether he might approach the enemy of the Church the unhesitating obedience of each when the Divine will was made clearly known the state of mind in which both the Pharisee and the Centurion were found each waiting to see what the Lord would say unto them this close analogy will not be forgotten by those who reverently read the two consecutive chapters, in which the baptism of Saul and the baptism of Cornelius are narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.” When so much criticism has been expended to shew that the Acts is a work of fiction written at a late period to minimize certain differences supposed to exist between the teaching of St. Paul and that of St. Peter, it is well to know that others have seen, in these undoubted analogies proofs of the working of a God who is ever the same, and who would have all men to be saved through Jesus Christ.

11. into the street which is called Straight ] A long straight street still runs through Damascus, and is probably (so persistent is every feature of Oriental life) the same in which Ananias found Saul in the house of Judas.

12. and hath seen in a vision ] The oldest MSS. omit “in a vision.” It could only have been in this wise that Saul had been informed, and the words are merely a gloss.

13. I have heard by [from] many, etc.] These words seem to point to a longer residence of Ananias in Damascus than he could have made if he had only left Jerusalem after the death of Stephen; and so do the words (xxii. 12) which speak of his good report among all the Jews that dwelt at Damascus.

how much evil he hath done to thy saints, etc.] The Christian converts were probably called “saints,” i.e., “holy persons,” at a very early period after the death of Christ because of the marvellous outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon the first converts, cp. 1Pe 1:15 . The word is of frequent occurrence in the greetings of St. Paul’s Epistles.

14. all that call on thy name ] To call on Christ is the same as to be a believer in Him. The expression is used as an apposition to “saints” in 1Co 1:2 , and thence we see what in the Pauline language was meant by the word “saints.”

15. he is a chosen vessel unto me ] Literally, “a vessel of election.” This is a Hebrew form of expression, cp. Jer 22:28 , where King Coniah is called “a vessel wherein is no pleasure.” So Jer 51:34 , “He hath made me [to be] an empty vessel,” literally, “vessel of emptiness.”

to bear my name ] i.e., this shall be the load or duty which I will lay upon this my chosen instrument.

before the Gentiles ] This was doubtless a revelation to Ananias, who as a devout Jew would not yet have contemplated the inclusion of the whole world in the Church of Christ. The Gentiles are placed first in the enumeration, because among them specially was Saul’s field of labour to be. For the wide spirit in which the Apostle embraced his commission, see Rom 1:13-14 , etc.

and kings ] As before Agrippa (Act 26:1 , Act 26:32 ) and at Rome, in consequence of the appeal to be heard before Csar.

16. for I will shew him how great [many] things he must suffer ] Cp. Paul’s own words ( Act 20:23 ), “The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.” The truth of this is borne out by that long list of the Apostle’s sufferings which he enumerates in his letter to the Corinthians ( 2Co 11:23-28 ) and the less detailed list in the same Epistle ( 2Co 6:4-5 ).

17. Brother Saul ] The Hebrew form of the name, see Rom 1:4 , note.

the Lord, even Jesus ] Combining the name “Lord” used by Saul when the vision appeared, with that “Jesus” which Christ, speaking from His glory, uttered in answer to Saul’s enquiry, Who art thou?

that appeared unto thee in the way ] Thus was brought to Saul after his three days’ blindness a confirmation from without of the reality of what he had seen on the road as he came. The words at the same time gave an earnest that here was the teacher who would explain to him what he was to do.

and be filled with the Holy Ghost ] On this occasion the Holy Ghost was bestowed without the laying on of the hands of one of the twelve.

18. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales ] The word rendered “scales” is used as a technical term for a disease of the eye by Hippocrates, and the verb derived from it is found ( Tob 11:13 ) used of the cure of a disease of similar character. “And the whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes.” This “whiteness” is rendered in the margin ( Tob 2:10 ) “white films,” and was clearly something like the “scales” which caused Saul’s blindness, and a process for the cure thereof is called ( Act 3:17 ) “to scale away the whiteness of Tobit’s eyes.” St. Paul ( Act 22:11 ) ascribes his blindness to the glory of the heavenly light, and it may have been some secretion, caused by the intensity of that vision, which formed over them, and at his cure fell away. Some have thought that his constant employment of an amanuensis, and the mention of the large characters in which he wrote in his Epistle to the Galatians ( Gal 6:11 ), “Ye see in what large letters I have written to you,” are indications that the Apostle suffered permanently in his eyesight from the heavenly vision.

and he received [recovered, and so in 17] sight forthwith ] The oldest MSS. omit the last word.

and arose, and was baptized ] In the fuller account ( Act 22:16 ) we learn that the exhortation to be baptized was part of the message with which Ananias was charged, and so was divinely commissioned to receive Saul thus into the Christian Church.

19. and when he had received [taken] meat, etc.] Needed after his three days’ fast, but (says Calvin) “he refreshed not his body with meat until his soul had received strength.”

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus ] The word Saul is not found in the oldest MSS. Read “And he was, etc.” The expression rendered “certain days” is the same which in Act 10:48 , Act 15:36 , Act 16:12 , Act 24:24 , and Act 25:13 is used by St. Luke, and in all cases the time indicated by them must have been brief. It was for this amount of time that Peter tarried with Cornelius, the words are applied to a short period spent by Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, to the time of St Paul’s stay at Philippi, to the short time which Paul was detained at Csarea before his hearing by Felix, and to a like period between the arrival of Festus and the visit which Agrippa made to salute him as the new Governor. In most of these instances the time intended must have been very brief, and it is important to notice this here, because in Act 25:23 we shall find another expression which is translated “many days” and seems designed by the writer to indicate a somewhat longer period. It is clear, from the way in which “disciples” are here mentioned, that there was a numerous body of Christians in Damascus at this early period. Saul dwelt with them now not as an enemy but as a brother, by which name Ananias had been directed to greet him.

20. And straightway he preached Christ [proclaimed Jesus] in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God ] The best MSS. read Jesus in this verse, and this naturally is correct. The preaching which was to be to the Jews a stumblingblock was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, their long-expected Messiah.

He went, as was Christ’s custom also, into the synagogues as the most likely places where to find an audience who would listen to his proclamation. His letters to the synagogues ( Act 9:2 ) were not delivered, but he came as the herald of one of higher authority than the chief priests. For St. Paul’s constant practice of teaching in the Jewish synagogues, see Act 13:5 , Act 14:1 .Act 17:1Act 17:1 , Act 17:10 , Act 18:4 , Act 18:19 , Act 19:8 .

21. But all that heard him were amazed ] Saul’s fame as a persecutor of Christians was well known to the Jews of Damascus, and the authorities of the synagogues may have been instructed beforehand to welcome him as a zealous agent. If so their amazement is easy to understand. It is clear from what follows in this verse that they knew of his mission and the intention thereof, though Saul did not bring them his “commission and authority.” We should gather also from the strong expression “destroyed,” used to describe Saul’s career in Jerusalem, that the slaughter of the Christians there had not been limited to the stoning or Stephen.

22. But Saul increased the more in strength ] i.e., he became more and more energetic in his labours and the Holy Ghost gave him more power. His fitness for the labour on which he was entering was very great. He possessed all the Jewish learning of a zealous pupil of Gamaliel, and now that he had seen Jesus in the glory of the Godhead, he could use his stores of learning for the support of the new teaching in such wise as to commend it to those Jews who were looking for the consolation of Israel. But these would naturally be the smallest portion of his hearers. The rest of the Jews were confounded. They heard their Scripture applied by a trained mind, and shewn to be applicable to the life of Jesus. They could not at this time make an attack on Saul, for they were paralyzed by what they heard, and it was only when some time had elapsed that they resolved to continue in their rejection of Jesus and then, at a later time, their persecution of Saul began.

proving that this is very [the] Christ ]. The word here rendered “proving” is used again in Act 16:10 , and translated “assuredly gathering.” The idea conveyed by it is that of putting things side by side, and so making a comparison and forming a conclusion. Thus Saul, well equipped with a knowledge of the ancient Scriptures, set before his hearers a description of the Messiah as he is there portrayed, and relating the life history of Jesus, shewed them that in him the Scriptures of the prophets had been fulfilled.

The Conversion of Saul

THE third verse of this chapter has in it a statement which is in subtle harmony with all the necessities of the case. The verse reads thus: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.” We have heard opinions about what we term sudden conversions. Some persons do not believe in them. They have conceptions regarding conversion which are not confirmed in their truthfulness by any sudden or violent change of mind and action. But here is the very word that is objected to! It is an Old Testament word. Suddenness was approved by the Lord of the Jewish Church; for He, Himself taught this prophet to say, “The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple.” Mark the harmony of that particular feature of the incident, with the great purpose which was wrought out by the grace of God. A slow, deliberate, intellectual transformation would have been a moral violence under circumstances so peculiar. There are times when quietness itself is out of place. There are occasions which require the thunder and the lightning and all the instruments of surprise which are within the resources of God. It is, therefore, quite in keeping with the keynote of the story when we find that Saul was suddenly struck. It is in such coincidences and harmonies that we find the broadest and clearest proofs of Biblical inspiration. What could be more harmonious in all its particulars and relations than the story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch? A man quietly reading in his chariot and filled with religious wonder as to the meaning of the mysterious Word which challenged his attention, what more seemly and beautiful, than that a teacher should sit beside him and show the meaning of the sacred mysteries? That was beautiful, that was an instance of historical and moral proportion; but here is a man “yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter,” a word implying continuous and unsuspended action, yea, blast upon blast of hottest fury with such a man you cannot reason, God therefore suddenly strikes him to the ground. In that action is one of the subtlest proofs and illustrations of what is meant by the inspiration of the Bible. Not only in great broad features, but in proportion, in colour, in the arrangement of the parts, in the subtle and complete harmony of the whole, I find the presence of God. You need not direct my eye to constellations and astronomic wonders, for when I consider the lilies, and behold the fowls of the air, I see Divinity. Let us, therefore, admire this Providence of arrangement, and this inspiration of incident, as well as fall down in religious wonder before the stupendous conversion itself. Do not reprove the suddenness of the conversion until you understand all the circumstances. That very suddenness may itself be part of the occasion.

Now, look at the incident as showing Saul’s relation to Judaism, or, in other words, Saul’s relation to his past life. Does Jesus Christ condemn Judaism? Certainly not. He Himself was a Jew. “Salvation is of the Jews.” Saul was not called upon to renounce any one thing he believed as erroneous. Let us carefully weigh that remark, for all that is most sacred in ancient history seems to find its consummation in its few syllables. Jesus Christ did not say, “Saul, you are religiously wrong, you are intellectually mistaken, you are following a wrong course of life which had bad beginnings.” There is not a word of religious chiding in all the speech. The only thing that was being done was that Saul was hurting Himself. “Why kick against the pricks? Why thrust thyself upon the sharp goads, to thy wounding, and bleeding, and death?” The persecutor only hurts himself. The bad man digs a hell for himself alone. Jesus Christ did not condemn the personal attitude of Saul. Saul was an Old Testament man. The Old Testament is a book of stoning and scourging “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The unfilial son must be stoned, the heretic must be stoned, the blasphemer must be stoned. Saul was therefore keeping strictly within historic lines and constitutional proprieties, when he said in effect, “This novel heresy must be stamped out with force.” Christianity does not condemn Judaism. If any one were to ask me, “What is the relation of Christianity to Judaism?” I would say, “You find that relation in the very form of the book which we call the Bible.” What have we in the Bible? Judaism and Christianity, the Old Testament and the New. In the very form and make-up of the book itself I have the best answer to the question “What does Christianity say about Judaism?” Christianity does not oppose Judaism, it supersedes it. Christianity takes up Judaism, realizes all its types and symbols and ceremonies. Judaism is the dawn, Christianity is the full noontide. Christianity is the purple autumn bringing to maturity and sweetness all the roots and fruits of the Judaism which it followed and consummated. There seems to be a good deal of mistake about this matter. The Jew is simply a man who has not come on to the next point in history. His beginning is right. Not a word have I to say against any solitary ceremony of Judaism, kept within proper time, and restrained within the relations appointed by God. Christianity continues, completes, and glorifies what Judaism began. But for Judaism there could have been no Christianity. We are debtors to the Jew, and the Jew is, in my opinion, historically and typically the greatest man that lives. The Gentiles never converted themselves. No heathen country ever originated its own Christianity. The Jew was sent to the Gentile. The most stubborn prejudices were turned into the most anxious sympathies, and this is the crowning miracle of the grace of Christ.

In the conversion of Saul we see the greatest triumph which Christianity has accomplished. This was the master-miracle. Who is this man? A Jew, of an ancient and honourable pedigree; a student, a scholar, a man of high and influential station. Shrewder than Iscariot, more ardent than Peter a very volcano of a man. There lay within him capacity to do anything that mortals ever did. When his teeth once took hold, they could only be opened by an Almighty power. His hand once upon the prey, the prey was dead, unless the fingers be unloosed by Almightiness. Jesus Christ himself directly undertakes his conversion, and works thus his supreme spiritual miracle. When Saul was converted there was more than one man changed. There are those who say “count hands,” as if one hand were equal to another. There is a conversion of quality as well as a conversion of quantity. Some conversions are to be weighed, and some are to be merely numbered. Statistics cannot help you in this matter. Let a Saul of Tarsus be converted, and you convert an army terrible with banners! He will not let the Church fall asleep. He will not let the world allow him to travel through all its plains and cities incog. Many of us will manage that little task. We can go through the house, the place of business, the market, and the exchange, and come out at the other end without anybody identifying us! Saul of Tarsus will presently show us how to go through the world. He will never pass without recognition, and no town will he be in without setting up his holy testimony.

The Lord uses a remarkable expression concerning this man in the eleventh verse, “Behold he prayeth.” Had he not been praying all his lifetime? In a certain sense he certainly had been praying. Why then say now, “Behold he prayeth”? Old words acquire new meanings. Language is not a fixed quantity, and definition is something more than a technicality. Different words have different meanings in different men, and the same man attaches different meanings to words at different times of life. You were once rich upon a time which you would now count poverty. Once you were proud of a house which now you ignore. So whilst saying prayers, reciting prayerful terms punctilious in ritual, exemplary in all the outward observances of his Church, Saul had yet in a Christian sense never prayed. Prayer is a Christian acquisition. Prayer is a battering ram which only a Christian arm can work. When the Church prays, the Church wins. If you could pray not merely say your prayers your trouble would be forgotten in the glorious interview with heaven. Prayer is not an attitude, a mere decency, a posture of the body, or an exercise of the tongue, it is the supreme effort of the heart to throw, in friendly wrestling, the Almighty God. “Ye have not because ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss.” You are yourself often not there when you pray, your soul is otherwhere. If you were present in the fulness, intensity, completeness, and determination of energy with Christ’s Cross as the medium through which your prayers went up to heaven, you would arise from your knees more than conquerors.

Another remarkable expression we find in the sixteenth verse, “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Mark the harmony of this arrangement also. God knows what we are doing, and he pays to the uttermost. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” Adonibezek said, “As I have done, so God hath requited me.” Samuel said to Agag, “As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women.” Saul was in this succession. “He shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy.” Saul was a student in that school of compensation. “Whoso shutteth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Be not deceived. Saul was now made to feel how exactly true these terms were. “Saul made havoc of the Church” ( Act 8:3 ). Next, “Having stoned Paul, they drew him out of the city, supposing him to be dead” ( Act 14:9 ). “Saul yet breathing out threaten ings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” ( Act 9:1 ). Turn now to the twenty-third chapter: “Certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” I will test his conversion ( Gal 1:13 ). “Beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it.” Blow for blow, stroke for stroke! “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one, twice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.” “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” A man lays up what he will one day have to meet face to face ( Act 26:10 ). “Many of the saints did I shut up in prison” ( Act 16:26 ). “And when they had lain many stripes upon Paul they cast him into prison.” “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Do not suppose you can escape God. He will let us for a time suppose that we have escaped, but suddenly He will strike us to the root with light, may it not be with lightning! And He will show us that life is not a series of unconnected accidents, but a great and solemn stewardship leading up to judgment, to penalty, or reward.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Chapter 26

Prayer

Almighty God, make for us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, entrances into the upper places, where the light is brighter than it is down here. We desire to mount as upon the wings of eagles. Thou hast created in our hearts a passion for better things. Our souls yearn for loftier skies than those which now shelter us. Thou art always calling us away to higher heights and more splendid scenes. In Christ Jesus we know not the rest of mean contentment, but the peace of noble ambition. We would therefore “press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus.” We have not attained, neither are we already perfect, but knowing this and knowing the fulness of the grace that is in Christ Jesus, we would run with patience the race that is set before us.

Thou dost continually surprise us with some new comfort and some unexpected revelation. Thou dost keep the best wine; thou dost not give it unto us; thou hast ever something more behind. Thou art from everlasting to everlasting, and there is no searching of thine understanding. We have heard that power belongeth unto thee; unto thee also, O Lord, belongeth mercy. In thy mercy alone can we live; thy mercy as revealed unto us in thy Son, Son of man, Son of God, God the Son. Help us to see it in all its purity and fulness, and may it be applied to us in the depth of our humiliation. Our help is in God. In no other can help be found but in our infinite Redeemer. Comfort us every day with his grace, and stablish us in his truth. Accept the thanks we bring thee for all pity, and love, and care; and if any before thee wish to offer special thanksgiving for special mercies, the Lord hear the utterance of thankfulness, and return continual blessing.

Be with those who have new prospects opening before them, and new work on hand, hardly knowing how to do it. The Lord give wisdom to those who desire to walk in the way of understanding, and grant unto those who are looking on a confidence in what is coming, and the steadfastness that comes of faith in a living Providence. Deliver us from all fear, and inspire us with that noble trust in thyself which gives us peace even in the very sanctuary of the storm.

The Lord’s blessing be upon this assembly. The Lord light the fire at the altar, and send us light from the upper Sanctuary. Amen.

Saul Self-contrasted

Act 9:1-22

WHAT wonderful contrasts there are in this narrative in reference to the character of Saul of Tarsus! He is not the same man throughout, and yet he is the same. The contrasts are so sharp, and, indeed, so violent, as almost to make him into another man altogether. For example, take the first of these contrasts, and you will find that Saul, who went out to persecute, remained to pray. The first verse reads, “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter!” and in the eleventh verse occurs the remarkable expression, “Behold, he prayeth!” He breathed hotly. The breath of his nostrils was a fierce blast that burned the air. How changed in a little time! for his face is turned upward to heaven, and its very look is a pleading supplication. What has occurred? These effects must be accounted for. Have they any counterpart in our own observation and experience? Have any of us passed from fierceness to gentleness, from drunkenness to sobriety, from darkness to light, from blasphemy to worship? Then we understand what is meant by this most startling contrast. There may be others who have advanced so quietly and gradually as to find no such contrast in their own consciousness and experience; but we must not judge the experience of the whole by the experience of the part. This is precisely the work which Christianity undertakes to do. It undertakes to cool your breath, to take the fire out of your blood, to subdue your rancour and your malignity, and to clasp your hands in childlike plea and prayer at your Father’s feet. Such is the continual miracle of Christianity. The religion of Jesus Christ would have nothing to do if this were not to be accomplished. Jesus makes the lion lie down with the lamb, and he causes the child to hold the fierce beast, and to put its hand with impunity on the cockatrice den. Other miracles he has ceased to perform, but this continual and infinite surprise is the standing miracle and the standing testimony of Christ.

Take the second contrast, which is quite as remarkable. When Saul was a Pharisee he persecuted; when Saul became a Christian we read in the twenty-second verse that he “proved.” How many miles of the moral kind lie between the word “persecuted” and the word “proved”? Yet this is distinctly in the line of Christian purpose and heavenly intent. As a Pharisee he said, “Destroy Christianity, by destroying Christians. Bind them; put an end to this pestilence. Do not stand it any longer. Open your prison doors, and I will fill your dungeons, and we will bring this new and mischievous heresy to a speedy termination.” Such was his first policy. Having seen Jesus, and felt his touch, and entered into his Spirit, what does he say? Does he now say, “The persecution must be turned in the other direction; I have been persecuting the wrong parties; now I find it is you Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees, that must be manacled and fettered and put an end to. I change my policy, and I persecute you, every man and woman of you”? Nothing of the kind. Observe this miracle, admire it, and let it stand before you as an argument invincible and complete. What is Saul’s tone now? Standing with the scrolls open before him, he reasons and mightily contends; he becomes a vehement and luminous speaker of Christian truth. He increases the more in strength, proving that this is the Christ. Has all the persecuting temper gone? Yes, every whit of it. Why did he not prove to the Christians, in his unconverted state, that they were mistaken? When he was not a converted man, he never thought of “proving” anything. He had a rough, short, and easy method with heretics stab them, burn them, drown them, bind them in darkness, and let them die of hunger! Now that he is a converted man, he becomes a reasoner. He stands up with an argument as his only weapon; persuasion as his only iron; entreaty and supplication as the only chains with which he would bind his opponents. What has happened? Something vital must have occurred. Is there not a counterpart of all this in our own individual experience, and in civilized history? Do not men always begin vulgarly, and end with refinement? Is not the first rough argument a thrust with cold iron, or a blow with clenched fist? Does not history teach us that such methods are utterly unavailing in the extinction or the final arrest of erroneous teaching? Christianity is a moral plea. Christianity burns no man. Wherein professing Christians have resorted to the block and the stake, and to evil instruments, they have proved disloyal to their Master, and they have forgotten the spirit of his cross. Christianity is a plea, a persuasion, an appeal, an address to reason, conscience, heart, and to everything that makes a man a Man. Christianity-uses no force, and asks for no force to be used on its behalf. You cannot make men pray by force of arms. You cannot drive your children to church, except in the narrowest and shallowest sense of the term. You may convince men of their error, and lead men to the sanctuary, and, through the confidence of their reason and their higher sentiments, you may conduct them to your own noblest conclusions. How far is it from persecuting to praying? From threatening and slaughter to proving? That distance Christ took Saul, who only meant to go from Jerusalem to Damascus, some hundred and thirty-six miles. Christ took him a longer journey; he swept him round the whole circle of possibility. He made him accomplish the entire journey which lies between persecution and prayer, slaughter and argument. It is thus that Jesus Christ makes us do more than we intended to do. He meets us on the way of our own choice, and graciously takes us on a way of his own.

Look at the third contrast, which is as notable as the other two. In the opening of the narrative Saul was a strong man, the strongest of the band; the chief, without whose presence the band would dissolve. His nostrils are dilated with anger: his eye burns with a fire that expresses the supreme purpose of his heart. Nothing stands between him and the accomplishment of his purpose. The caravan road from Jerusalem to Damascus, supposing that he took that road, required some six days to traverse it. Saul knew not the lapse of time, so high-strung was his energy, and so resolute his purpose. And in this same narrative, not further on than the eighth verse, we read of the great persecutor that “they led him by the hand.” What has happened? We thought he would have gone into the city like a storm; and he went in like a blind beggar! We thought he would have been met at the city gate as the great destroyer of heresy; and he was led by the hand like a helpless cripple! Woe unto the strength that is not heaven-born! Such so-called power will wither away. When we are weak then are we strong. Saul will one day teach us that very doctrine. Really understood, Saul was a stronger man when he was being led by the hand than when he breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. You are mightier when you pray than when you persecute. You are stronger men when you prove your argument than when you seek to smite your opponent. Something will come of this. Such violences have high moral issues.

Saul led by the hand; then why need we be ashamed of the same process? Saul began feebly; why should we hesitate to begin our Church service on a very small scale? Saul led by the hand; then who will despise the day of small things? Presently he will increase in strength, the right strength, the power that has deep roots; not the power of transient fury, but the solid and tranquil strength of complete repose. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and remember that the mightiest chief under Christ that ever led the Christian hosts was conducted by friendly and compassionate men into the city which he intended to devastate.

Turning to another aspect of the case, we see two or three most beautiful and pathetic glimpses of Jesus Christ Himself. He ascended, yet he said, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” There we find him leaving, yet not leaving; not visible, yet watchful; looking upon Saul every day, and looking at the same time upon his redeemed Church night and day, the whole year round. Events are not happening without his knowledge; the story of all the ages is written in heaven. He knows your persecuting purpose; he understands well enough what you are doing to interrupt the cause of truth and the progress of Christian knowledge. Jesus Christ knows all your antagonistic plans, thoughts, purposes, and devices. His eye is upon you. As for you Christians, he knows your sufferings, your oppositions, your daily contentions, your painful striving; he knows exactly through how much tribulation you are moving onward to the kingdom.

Not only is he living and watchful, but, in the case of Saul himself, Jesus Christ was compassionate. Listen to the words which he addressed to Saul: “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” He pitied the poor ox that struck its limbs against the sharp and piercing goads. There is nothing destructive in this criticism. There is the spirit of Christ in this remark, Yea, this expostulation repeats the prayer of his dying breath, and shows him to be “the same yesterday, today, and for ever.” He does not bind Saul with his own chain; he throws upon him the happy spell of victorious love.

Not only is he living, watchful, and compassionate, he is consistent. He said to Ananias, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. When Jesus called his disciples to him, and ordained them to go out into the world, he laid before them a black picture; he kept back nothing of the darkness. He told his disciples that they would be persecuted, dragged up before the authorities and cruelly treated; and now, when he comes to add another to the number, he repeats the ordination charge which he addressed to the first band.

All these things were seen in a vision. Say some of you, “We have no visions now. Have we not? How can we? We may eat and drink all visions away. The glutton and the drunkard can have nothing but nightmare. A materialistic age can only have a materialistic religion. If men will satisfy every appetite, indulge every desire to satiety, turn the day into night, and the night into a long revel, they cannot wonder if the vision should have departed from their life. We may grieve the Spirit, we may quench the Spirit; we may so eat, and drink, and live as to divest the mind of its wings, and becloud the whole horizon of the fancy. But is it true that the vision has ceased? It may be so within a narrow sense, but not in its true spiritual intent and thought. Even now we speak about strong impressions, impulses we cannot account for, movements, desires of the mind which lie beyond our control. Even now we are startled by unexpected combinations of events. Even now we have a mysterious side to life, as well as an obvious and patent side. What if the religious mind should see in such realities the continued Presence and the continued Vision which gladdened the early Church? If you would see the spiritual, you must keep down the material. If you would have visions, you must banish the basely substantial. If you would have high dreamings and noble revelations, you must mortify the flesh.

See from this conversion how true it is that Christianity does not merely alter a man’s intellectual views or modify a man’s moral prejudices. Christianity never makes a little alteration in a man’s thinking and action. Christianity makes new hearts, new creatures, and not new plans and new habits only. Other reformers may change a habit now and again, may modify a prejudice, attemper a purpose with some benign and gracious intent; but this Redeemer, who gave himself the Just for the unjust, who bought with the blood of his own heart, does not make a little difference in our intellectual attitude and our moral purpose. He wants us to be born again. “If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new.” There drop from his eyes “as it were scales,” and, with a pure heart, he sees a pure God.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XVII

SAUL’S CONVERSION, HIS CALL TO THE APOSTLESHIP AND HIS COMMISSION

Act 9:1-19 ; Act 22:5-16 ; Act 26:12-20 ; 1Co 1:1 ; 1Co 9:1 ; 1Co 15:7-10 ; Rom 7:7-25 .

In commencing this chapter, I call attention to my address called, “The Greatest Man in History,” which you will find in The Southwestern Theological Review, Vol. I, No. II. There are ten special scriptures which bear upon the conversion of Saul, and most of them upon his call to the apostleship. The accounts given are as follows: (1) By Luke, Act 9:1-9 , A.D. 36; (2) by Barnabas, Act 9:26-28 , A.D. 39; (3) by Paul at Corinth, Gal 1:15-16 , A.D. 57; (4) by Paul at Ephesus, 1Co 15:8-10 , A.D. 57; (5) by Paul at Corinth, Rom 7:7-25 , A.D. 58; (6) by Paul at Jerusalem, Act 22:1-16 , A.D. 59; (7) by Paul at Caesarea, Act 26:1-19 , A.D. 60; (8) by Paul at Rome, Phi 3:4-14 , A.D. 62; (9) by Paul in Macedonia, 1Ti 1:12-16 , A.D. 67; (10) by Paul at Rome, 2Ti 1:9-12 , A.D. 68. In order to understand the conversion of Saul of Tarsus we must be able to interpret these ten scriptures.

To prove that Paul was under conviction before his conversion I submit two scriptures: (1) The words that Jesus said to him when he met him, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” (2) What he says about his experience in Rom 7:7-25 , that he was alive without the law until the commandment came, when sin revived and he died.

As to the time and place of Paul’s conversion, the argument is overwhelming that he was converted outside Damascus. In the first place, the humility with which he asked the question, “Who art thou, Lord?” Second, the spirit of obedience which instantly followed: “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, Is was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Again he says, “When God called me by his grace, he revealed Christ in me.” So we may count it a settled question that Paul was converted out there on the road, when the light above the brightness of the midday sun shone about him, and he fell to the ground.

The proof that his vision of Jesus was real, and not a mere mental state, is found in 1Co 9:1 , and also 1Co 15:8 , in which he expressly affirms that he had seen Jesus, and puts it in the same class with the appearances of Jesus to the other disciples, after his resurrection from the dead. It was not simply an ecstasy, nor a trance, nor a mere mental state, but he actually met Jesus, and saw him. Jesus appeared to him, not in the flesh, as on earth before his death, but in the glory of his risen body. He and Paul actually met. There was a necessity for his actually seeing the Lord. He could not otherwise have been an apostle, for one of the main functions of the apostolic office was to be an “eyewitness” that Jesus had risen from the dead. So Peter announces when Matthias was chosen to fill the place of Judas that he must be one who had continued with them from the time of the baptism of John until the Lord was taken up into the heavens, and that he must be one eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ. Other passages also bearing on his apostolic call, are, one particularly, 1Co 9:1-9 , and then what he says in the beginning of his letters: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, not of man.” I need not cite all of these beginnings. You can trace these out yourself. The second particular passage that I cite, to be put by the side of 1Co 9:1-9 , is Gal 1:15-16 .

Let us distinguish clearly between his conversion and his apostolic call, and show what part of this point experience may not be expected in conversions today, and was not a part of his Christian experience, and what the elements of his Christian experience. When I was interested in the subject of my salvation, to me, a sinner and an outsider, the distinction between Saul’s conversion and his call to the apostleship was very clear. You must understand that the light above the brightness of the midday sun was the glory of the appearance of the risen Lord to Saul, in order that he might see him to become an apostle, and the shock which Paul experienced by thus seeing the risen Lord was the shock that knocked him down, but it was not a part of his Christian experience it was a part of his call to the apostleship. You must not expect anything of that kind in order to your conversion, nor must you teach other people to expect it. But the elements of his Christian experience were these: (1) He was convicted that he was a sinner; (2) Christ was revealed to him; (3) he did believe on the Christ thus revealed as his Saviour; (4) he did then and there receive the remission of his sins, which remission was pictorially set forth in his baptism three days later.

Here it is well for us to define a Christian experience. I was once present when a man came to unite with the church, and the first question propounded to him was, “Please tell us in your own way why you think you are a Christian.” “Well,” he commenced in a sort of “sing-song” manner, “one day ah, about five o’clock ah, I just took a notion to walk around the work-fence ah, and I thought maybe I’d better take my rifle along ah, for I might see a squirrel ah,” and he went on just that way. I myself have heard, in a Negro protracted meeting on the Brazos, about eight miles below Waco, candidate after candidate tell their experiences. They commenced this way: “Well, about last Sunday night ah,” following the same “sing-song” manner, “something seemed to drop down on me like a falling star ah, and I heard the angel Gabriel toot his horn ah; I went down in the valley to pray ah,” and so on.

Therefore, I say that we ought to define accurately the Christian experience. This is a Christian experience: All those convictions, emotions, and determinations of the soul wrought by the Spirit of God in one’s passage from death unto life. That may sound like a strange definition of a Christian experience. It has in it a conviction and certain emotions, also certain determinations, or choices, and those convictions and emotions are not excited by seeing a squirrel, not in imagining that you heard Gabriel blow his horn, for it is not Gabriel that is going to blow the horn. Michael is the horn-blower. But this conviction, this emotion and the determinations of the will, are all Spirit-wrought. And a Christian experience covers every one of those in the passage from death unto life.

There are varied uses which the New Testament makes of Paul’s experience:

1. As soon as he was converted, and yet outside Damascus or at least as soon as he had entered Damascus, the Lord tells Paul’s Christian experience to Ananias in order to induce that disciple to go to him. That disciple says, “Lord, I know this man. Why, he is a holy terror! He just kills us wherever he finds us.” But the Lord says, “I tell you he is a chosen vessel unto me, and you go to him.” So the Lord made use of Paul’s experience to prepare Ananias to accept Paul, and to minister to him what ought to be ministered to him, just as God made use of the experience of Cornelius related by himself to Peter in order to prepare Peter to perceive that God was no respecter of persons.

2. The second use made is by Barnabas in Act 9:26-28 . Paul came to Jerusalem three years after his conversion, and essayed to join himself to the disciples, but they would not receive him: “You? Take you? Accept you? Why, this whole city is full of the memories of your persecutions.” But Barnabas took up for him, and related how this Saul had met Jesus, and how he was a believer in this gospel, and a preacher. And the relating of Saul’s experience to the Jerusalem church removed all of their objections to him, and prepared them to receive him among them, so the record says, “he went in and out among them.”

It is for such objects that the Christian experience should be related to the church. God requires it as the second ceremonial act that the man shall publicly confess the change that has taken place in him before he can be received into the church, and I will be sorry whenever, if ever, the Baptists leave that out. A man must not only be converted inside, but in order to join the church there must be a confession of that conversion.

In this particular case it was exceedingly appropriate for Barnabas to relate it, as they would not be disposed to believe Paul. The general rule should be that each candidate tell his own experience. It is better to let the candidate just get up and tell the church why he thinks he is a Christian, in his own way. Some people object to it. They say it is too embarrassing to the women. I have never found it so, but Is have seen men so “shaky” when they went to get married that they answered so low I could hardly hear them. But women are always assertive. A woman knows she loves him. She knows what she is doing, and she doesn’t mind saying so.

I remember a Christian experience related to our old First Church at Waco. A Mrs. Warren gave it. I talked with her privately, saying, “When you come before the church, don’t let anybody suggest to you what you are to say, and don’t you say anything because somebody else has said it; you just simply say what has happened to you.” When I put the question to her, she opened her Bible and put her finger on the passage from which she heard a sermon, and showed how that sermon took hold of her; told how it led her to pray; she then turned to another passage, showing that through faith she believed in Jesus Christ; and she thus turned from passage to passage. I considered her’s the most intelligent and the most impressive Christian experience I had ever heard. That kind of testimony does a world of good.

3. The third use of it Paul himself makes in his letter to the Galatians. He says, “God, who separated me even from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.” Thus he goes on to make use of his Christian experience. He says, “Therefore, now first I was converted, and then called as an independent apostle. That is why I do not go to Jerusalem to submit my experience to Peter or John, having derived this direct authority from God, from Christ, who alone can call an apostle. That is why I did not submit to the instruction of man.”

4. The next use he makes of it is what is told in Rom 7 , and he there tells his experience in order to show the use of the law in the conversion of a man that the law does not convert the man; that it discovers sin to him: “I had not known sin except the law said, Thou shall and shalt not do this or that. I was not even conscious that I was a sinner until the law showed me I was a sinner. Apart from the law I felt all right, about as good as anybody, but when the law came, sin revived and I died.” And then he goes on to show that this mere sight of sin through the law cannot put one at peace with God, neither can it deliver one; it does not enable one to follow the right that he sees in order to evade the wrong that he would not; that it leads one to cry out, “Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” But when he says, “I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord,” he then shows how his conversion, through faith in Jesus Christ was led up to by the law: the law was a schoolmaster to lead him to Christ.

5. In the letter to the Corinthians he makes another use of it. He explains that he is so different from what he was, saying, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” In other words, “You need not come to me and say, ‘Why, Paul, when did you commence to do better, to work out your own righteousness? You are so different from what you were when I first heard of you; you then were breathing out threatenings,’ for I say to you, By the grace of God I am what I am.”

6. We see another when he stands on the stairway in Jerusalem, giving an explanation as to why he quit one crowd and then went to another crowd. They were howling against him for going over to the Christians after being so zealous as a Jew, and he asked the brethren to hear him. He admits all that they said as to what he had been, and to justify his occupying the position he now occupies, he says, “I will tell you my Christian experience,” and he proceeds to do it. If a leader of wild young men, up to all sorts of mischief and devilment, should go off for a few days, and come back changed, and the boys say, “Come down to the saloon tonight, and let us have a good time,” and he would then say, “No,” they would wonder what had come to him and would ask, “What has come over you lately? Come and let us have a game of cards.” But, “No,” he says, “boys, I will tell you why I cannot do that.” Then he explains why, and he leaves that crowd because he can’t stay with it any more. So Paul explained why he left the persecuting crowd, and could not go with them any more. He had had a Christian experience.

7. In Act 26 there is another instance recorded in which he made use of it. He was at Caesarea, arraigned on trial for his life, before Festus and King Agrippa. He is asked to speak in his own defense. In defending himself against the accusations of his enemies he relates his Christian experience.

8. In the letter to the Philippians he relates his Christian experience in order to show the impossibility of any man’s becoming righteous through his own righteousness, and to show that Christ laid hold of him. He uses his own experience now to show that his righteousness can never save him, and that though regenerate, he cannot claim to be perfectly holy and sinless.

9. In 1Ti 1:12-16 he relates his Christian experience in order to explain two poles of those who are salvable: (a) “God forgave me because I did it through ignorance,” and (b) to show that any man who has not committed the unpardonable sin, may be saved, since he, the chief of sinners, was saved.

10. Then, in the last letter to Timothy, and just before he died, he recites his Christian experience. He says, “I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day,” i.e., “I committed my soul to him on that day when he came to me and met me; I knew him before I committed it to him, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep it.” He made that use of his Christian experience because he was under the sentence of death, expecting in a few hours to be executed. This is his farewell to earth and to time, so he closes his letter with the statement that the time of his exodus is at hand; that he is ready to be poured out as a libation; that he has fought a good fight, has kept the faith, and that he feels sure that there is laid up for him a crown which God the righteous Judge will give to him at his appearing, i.e., the appearing of Jesus. The relating of that experience came from the lips of a dying man, showing that the ground of his assurance gives calmness the calmness of God’s peace.

A startling fact confronts us in these many uses of his experience. We do not find many uses of Peter’s experience, or John’s, or Matthew’s, or Mark’s, or Luke’s. Paul is the only man in the New Testament whose experience is held up before us in ten distinct passages of scripture. To account for the fact, let us expound the two reasons for this particular man’s conversion (1Ti 1:13-16 ), in which he says, “Howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief . . . howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as the chief [of sinners] might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample, . . .” the conclusion of which is this: All these uses are made of Paul’s experience because as Abraham had the model faith, which is the pattern for all generations, so Paul is a model in Christian experience he is the pattern. If you preach on the faith of Abraham you have the model faith of the world; if you preach on the experience of Saul of Tarsus you have the model experience of the world.

The principal lesson to us is that as it was in the particular case of Paul, so it is in our case, that the most stupendous fact in our history is not when we were born according to the flesh, but when we were born according to the Spirit. That is our real birthday. It is the most significant and the most far-reaching fact of anybody’s lifetime and an abundant use may be made of it.

For instance, John Jasper, the Negro preacher, with his Christian experience could always reply to any atheist even to President Eliot, of Harvard, about a new religion. He would say to President Eliot, “When you say there is no such thing as the religion that has been preached, you ought to say, ‘Not as you knows of.’ I have it, and since I have got it and you haven’t, I am higher authority on that than you.”

In Edward Eggleston’s Circuit Rider is the story of a fighting preacher, who was going to his appointment, and certain rough men stopped him on the way and told him that he must turn round and go home, and not fill that appointment. “No,” he said, “I am going to fill it; I’m not going home.” “Well, then, we will take you down from your horse and give you such a beating that you will not feel like preaching.” “Well, you ought not to do that,” he said. “You get down,” they said. He got down and whipped both of them outrageously, but in the fight he got his jaw badly bruised and marred, and when he got to where he was to preach he could not preach. There was a big crowd, and no preacher who could preach. So he looked around and took a poor, thin, long-haired, black-eyed young fellow who had been very wild, but who had just been converted just a boy. The preacher said, “Ralph, get up here and preach.” “Why,” he says, “I am no preacher; I have not been a Christian long; I have not been licensed, nor ordained.” “But,” said the preacher, “get up here and preach.” “Why,” said the boy, “I do not know any sermons.” “Well, if you try to make a sermon and fail, then throw your sermon down, and tell your Christian experience before this crowd.” So that boy got up and made a failure of trying to preach a sermon like preachers preach. Then, weeping, he said, “Brethren, I can tell you how God for Christ’s sake forgave my sins,” and he became more eloquent in telling his experience than Demosthenes or Cicero, and that whole crowd was weeping under the power of the boy’s simple recounting of the salvation of his soul. He could not possibly have done any better than just what he did that day.

There is a myth that when Jupiter made a man he put a pair of saddlebags on his shoulders. In one of the saddlebags was the man’s own sins and in the other were the sins of his neighbors, and when the man threw the saddlebags on his shoulder the sins of his neighbors were in front of him and the other saddlebag with his own sins was behind him so that he could not see them, but his eyes were always on the sins of his neighbors. But when conversion comes God reverses the saddlebags, and putting the man’s own sins in front, he places the sins of his neighbors behind him, so that he never thinks about what a sinner A, B or C is, but, “Oh,” he says, “what a sinner I am!” That is the way of it in the Christian experience. Some think that it was the thought underlying this myth which caused Paul to call himself the chief of sinners, i.e., that it was because he saw his own sins, but not the sins of other people. My belief is that all of us feel that way the first time we quit looking at our neighbors’ sins and begin looking at our own sins, but it is not the explanation of Paul’s statement, because that does not make a pattern of the case. He says, “Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life.” Note that his case was a pattern to them that should thereafter believe. That was the reason, and not simply that of looking at his own sins instead of his neighbors.

What particular act, or series of acts, or state of mind constituted him the chief of sinners, is e., was it because he was a persecutor, blasphemer, or injurious? No. I have showed in a previous chapter that Louis XIV and Alva in the lowlands persecuted worse than all. Others have gone before him in blaspheming, and there have been more injurious men than he. The answer is this: He was a “Pharisee of the Pharisees,” that is, he was an extremist, going to the fine points of Pharisaism, the acme, the pinnacle, the apex of Pharisaism, which is self-righteousness, and Paul was the most self-righteous man in the world. What is the sin of self-righteousness? It says, “I am not depraved by nature; I do not need the new birth, the re-birth of the Holy Spirit; I need no atonement; I am the ‘pink of perfection.’ ” That is the greatest sin that man ever committed, because it rejects the Father’s love. It rejects the Saviour’s expiatory death, and his priesthood. It rejects the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification. Hence it is the culmination of sin. While other people are self-righteous, Paul was the outside man, which means that if all the sinners from Adam to the end of the world were put in a row and graded according to their heinousness, this one a sinner) this one more a sinner, that one even more, and to the outside man, the worst, the one next to hell, that man was Saul of Tarsus. That is what is meant by being the outside man as a pattern. He topped them all, to be held up before other sinners, so as to say, “If the outside man was saved, you need not despair.” The value of this man’s conversion to the church and to the world is very great. It marked the turning point in the direction of the labors of the church in a worldwide way, and it established forever the foundations of the new covenant as against the old covenant.

His apostolic call and independent gospel knocks the foundation out from under the Romanist claim that Peter was the first Pope, because it shows that he did not derive from Peter his apostolic authority; that he did not even go to see Peter before he commenced exercising his call; that he did not get from Peter one syllable of his gospel; and whenever an issue came up between him and Peter the latter went down and not Paul. That one fact destroys the entire claim of the papacy that Peter was the first Pope.

There are some things in this connection that need explanation. First, the falling of the scales from his eyes. Literally, there was no falling of the scales from his eyes, but the glory of Christ blinded him. His physical eyes could not see. It was not his soul that was blinded, but his physical eyes; and “the scales” that fell from his eyes was this temporary suspension of sight caused by this glory of the Lord. If you hold your eye open a little and let me put a red hot iron, not against your eye, but close to it, it will make you as blind as a bat, but if you shut your eye it won’t do it, because the tears in your eyes will break the conduction of the heat. Paul’s case is just as when you are standing out of doors on a dark night and there comes an intense flash of lightning. When it is gone you cannot see for a moment. That is the scales.

Second, Paul was unable to eat and drink for three days. The experience that had come to him was turning the world upside down. He had meat to eat that the ordinary man knows not of. The disciples were astonished that Jesus, sitting at the well of Sychar, was not hungry. He says, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” Hundreds of times I have been in that condition, after a great illumination in God’s work, and some powerful demonstration in a meeting, that I could not eat anything. The things of heaven tasted so much better than the things of earth. No man eats for a while in the shock of such tremendous experience as that Paul passed through.

Third, the Lord said to Ananias, “Behold, he prayeth.” The question arises, What was he praying for? What do you pray for? You are converted. The Lord said to Ananias, “Paul prayeth.” It was used as a proof that he was converted, and, “therefore Ananias, you may go to him.” Ananias was afraid to go. So the Lord said, “Why, you need not be afraid to go; he is not persecuting now, he is praying; there has a change come over him.” I do more praying and quicker praying after an extraordinary visitation of God’s grace than at any other time.

QUESTIONS 1. What address commended for study in connection with this chapter, and have you read it?

2. What the scriptures bearing on the theme, and what the corresponding date of each?

3 Prove that Paul was under conviction before his conversion?

4. Through whose ministry was Paul convicted?

5. At what point in the story was he converted when he met Jesus outside Damascus, at the end of three days in Damascus, or at his baptism?

6. What the proof that his vision of Jesus was real, and not a mere mental state?

7. What was the necessity for his actually seeing the Lord?

8. Cite other passages also bearing on his apostolic call.

9. Distinguish clearly between his conversion and his apostolic call, and show what part of this joint experience may not be expected in conversions today, and was not a part of his Christian experience.

10. Define a Christian experience.

11. What varied uses does the New Testament make of Paul’s experience?

12. What startling fact confronts us in these many uses of his experience?

13. To account for the fact expound the two reasons for this particular man’s conversion (1Ti 1:13-16 ) in which be says, “Howbeit Is obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; . . . howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as the chief of sinners] might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an ensample, etc.”

14. What the lessons to us of the use to be made of our experience, and what illustration of it?

15. Cite the myth of Jupiter concerning the man and the saddlebags.

16. Was it the thought underlying this myth which caused Paul to call himself the chief of sinners, i.e., was it because he saw his own sins, but not the sins of other people? Explain fully.

17. What particular act, or series of acts, or state of mind constituted him the chief of sinners, i.e., was it because he was a persecutor, blasphemer, or injurious?

18. What is the value of this man’s conversion to the church and the world?

19. What is the bearing of his apostolic call and his independent gospel on the Romanist claim that Peter was the first Pope?

20. Explain the falling of the scales from his eyes.

21. Explain his not eating and drinking for three days.

22. The Lord said to Ananias, “Behold, he prayeth.” What was he waiting for?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Ver. 1. And Saul yet breathing ] As a tired wolf, that wearied with worrying the flock, lies panting for breath. See Trapp on “ Act 8:3 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1 30 .] CONVERSION OF SAUL.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1 .] The narrative is taken up from ch. Act 8:3 , but probably with some interval, sufficient perhaps to cover the events of ch. 8.

] Meyer charges the ordinary interpretation, ‘ breathing ,’ i.e. as in E. V., ‘ breathing out ,’ with an arbitrary neglect of the composition of the word. He would render it ‘ in haling,’ with the partitive genitives signifying the element. But the sense would thus be flat; and there seems to be no need for pressing the sense of the compound verb. We should perhaps hardly render it breathing out , but breathing ; his ‘spiritus,’ inhaled or exhaled, being . . So , Q. Calaber, xiv. 72, and , Aristn. I. Ephesians 5 (Kuin.).

, ] As , , d. Col. 172, where Hermann remarks, ‘Si recte observavi, ea est hujus constructionis ratio, ut prcedat illud participium, quod, separatim enunciata sententia, indicativus esse verbi debet: ut hoc loco sensus sit, , .’

] See table in Prolegg, to Acts; it would be Theophilus, brother and successor to Jonathan, who succeeded Caiaphas, Jos. Antt. xviii. 5. 3.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 9:1 . : takes up and continues the narrative from Act 8:3 ; the resumptive use of . : “Sic in summo fervore peccandi ereptus et conversus est” Bengel. : only here in N.T., not “breathing out,” A.V., but rather “breathing of,” lit [221] , “in” (R.V. simply “breathing”), cf. LXX, Jos 10:40 ; ( cf. Psa 17:15 ) threatening and murdering were as it were the atmosphere which he breathed, and in and by which he lived, cf. Stobus, Flor. , 85, 19, , L. and S. and Blass, in loco ( cf. also Aristoph., Eq. , 437 , and Winer-Moulton, xxx., 9). : probably Joseph Caiaphas, who continues thus to persecute the Church, see on Act 4:6 (Act 5:17 ); he held office until 36 A.D., see Zdder’s note, in loco , and “Caiaphas,” B.D. 2 , and Hastings’ B.D. “Saul as a Pharisee makes request of a Sadducee!” says Felten.

[221] literal, literally.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts Chapter 9

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus follows in beautiful development of the ways of God. For on the one hand his murderous unflagging zeal against the Lord Jesus and His saints made him (arrested by sovereign grace and heavenly glory, in the person of Christ shining into his heart from on high) to be so much the more conspicuous witness of the gospel; on the other hand his call immediately thereon to go as His apostle to the Gentiles was a new and distinct departure of ministry to the praise of divine mercy. For the blood of Stephen, far from quenching the raging enthusiasm of the young zealot ‘consenting to his death’ had only stimulated him to dare unsparing violence against all men and women who called on the Lord’s name; and now his unsatisfied zeal against ‘the way’ induced him to chase the fleeing scattered saints outside the land.

‘But Saul, still breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked of him letters unto Damascus to the synagogues; so that, if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring [them] bound unto Jerusalem. And as he was journeying, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly there shone round him a light out of heaven, and faring upon the earth he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And Heb 1 [said], I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest1, but arise and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men that journeyed with him were standing speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing2; but leading by the hand they brought him into Damascus; and he was three days without seeing, and did neither eat nor drink;’ (vers. 1-9).

1 The Text. Rec. on inferior authority adds first ‘Lord said’, then an interpolation from Act 26 ‘[it is] hard for thee to kick against goads’, and an exaggerated form in the first half of ver. 6 of the first clause of Act 22:10 .

2 Or, ‘no one’, which is the reading of most authorities, some of them ancient and good, though Ap.m. B Vulg. Syrr. Sah., et al., give the broader sense of the neuter. It may help some to notice the objective or historical fact in this expression, as compared with the subjective state in the last clause of ver. 7 and the first of verse 9: objective again in the in latter part of 9.

Thus wonderfully was the chief persecutor called, not as saint only but as apostle also. The conversion of the dying robber was a signal display of suited though sovereign grace; that of the living pursuer of the saints to prison or death was higher far. And if Peter followed the rejected Christ from Galilee to His ascension and heavenly glory, Saul began with His call out of heaven till, himself ever afterwards a partaker of His sufferings, he finished his course in becoming conformed to His death. He was apostle, not through the living Messiah on earth, but through Him glorified after God the Father raised Him from the dead. He began his witness where Peter ended it on his part.

Saul’s was an unprecedented starting-point, which gave another and heavenly character to his service. There was a complete breach with Israel after the flesh, no longer a question of the earth or earthly hopes. Man risen from among the dead and gone on high has no connection with one nation more than another. The cross broke off all possible claims of those who had the law; but therein also was laid the righteous ground for the forgiveness of all trespasses, for taking out of the way the hostile bond written in ordinances. Heavenly associations with Christ glorified were now revealed as a present fact for faith to apprehend, enjoy, and make manifest practically on earth; and of this, both individually and corporately, Saul was chosen to be a witness as none other had ever been before; and therein none followed, for the case admitted of no succession.

This was the man who, brimful of deadly hatred, desired the highest religious sanction for war unto death against all men or women that called on the Lord Jesus. Armed with the high priest’s letter he approached Damascus, when suddenly light out of heaven flashed round him, and fallen to the earth he heard a voice charging him with persecuting Him Whom he could not own to be the Lord; and the astonished Saul learns to his utter confusion before God that it was Jesus, Jesus persecuted in His own, who were one with Him. Overwhelming discoveries for any soul! For the light, ‘the glory of that light,’ the power, the voice even to him were unmistakable altogether; and the more so, for one like Saul confidently and conscientiously embittered against His name, thinking he was doing good service if he captured or even killed His disciples: so stout certainly his will, so ardent his zeal, so unsuspecting his malice, through blinding religious prejudice.

Never was a conversion so stamped with heavenly glory (2Co 4:4 ) and this from the person of Christ speaking thence (Heb 12:25 ). It was emphatically the saving ‘grace of God’ that appeared to him, in total and manifest overthrow of the highest earthly tradition, though it was also the ‘glad tidings (or gospel) of Christ’s glory’, as not another even of the apostles could say like himself. Hence he speaks of ‘my’ gospel, and when joining others of his companions, ‘our’ gospel. It was not as if there was any object or any saving means before the soul but the one Saviour and Lord; but so it was from heavenly character, as well as the fullness and sovereignty of grace, therein manifested beyond all.

Besides, in Christ’s words, from that first revelation, lay the germ of the doctrine of the assembly as one with Himself, His body, which the apostle was called to expound and enforce by his Epistles, as by his ministerial work and life, in a way and measure that surpassed ‘the twelve’, however honoured in their place. And this peculiar manner, as well as heavenly development of the truth, of which the Lord makes him the pre-eminent witness, brought on him unparalleled trial and suffering, from not only without but even from within, as his own writings and others abundantly prove.

Saul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Judaism and the world were to his soul judged and abandoned for ever by the certainty of saving grace and heavenly glory in Christ on high Who now manifestly exercised divine power and authority, and at one glance pointed out the new and only true path of patient suffering for the witness, in word and deed, of grace and truth, according to His own matchless way on earth, till He come and take us to Himself where He is. On the one hand, not only the Gentiles (Romans, Greeks, and all others) were fighting against God, but yet more keenly the chosen nation, the Jews; on the other hand, the simplest disciple now is one with Christ on the throne of God, and to persecute them is to persecute Him.

This and far more such a mind as Saul’s read in the revelation outside Damascus – a revelation to go forth in due time over all the earth, and have its power only in faith and love forming a Christlike life to Christ’s glory, but not without notable effects even where it was ever so hollowly professed. It may be drowned in blood or obscured with clouds of creature error and presumption, Jewish or Gentile, or worse than either when both combine to deny the Father and the Son; but none the less in its objects it will rise in heaven with ever durable and unfading glory around Christ, ere He shall be revealed from heaven with angels of His might in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in that day, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and wondered at in all that believed, as well as to be alike the Blesser and the Blessing to all the families of the earth according to promise (2Th 1:7-10 ).

It will be noticed that the first effect on his believing and repentant soul was the spirit of obedience. Life was there through faith, and this as ever instantly shows its true character by obedience, which the Lord saw. It is assumed in the latter half of the Text. Rec. which forms the whole of verse 6, ‘But rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.’ He lets us know in his own account to the Jews (Act 22:10 ) that he had said, What shall I do, Lord? This the inspired historian does not cite here, though he gives it later where it was of importance. But in any case the Lord counts on obedience, even before Saul could be supposed to appreciate dogmatically, and to rest in peace on, the sprinkling of His blood. The new nature lives in obedience, such as Christ’s, in the consciousness and affections of sonship, and that blood cleanses from every sin of which the old man was guilty. Even before the new-born soul knows clearance from all guilt, the heart is made up to obey, not through fear of penalty like a Jew with death before his eyes, but attracted by sovereign goodness and submission to God’s word. Obedience is the only right place and attitude of the renewed mind, in contrast with the independence of God natural to man shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. Power comes in the gift of the Holy Ghost, when the believer rests on redemption and knows all his evilness before God. But even an apostle must be told, not himself discover, what he must do.

‘The men that journeyed with Saul were standing speechless, hearing the sound but beholding no one’ (ver. 7). The word often means ‘voice’, as it is rightly translated in verse 4, where Saul clearly heard what the Lord said to him. Here his companions did not hear one word articulately, as we are distinctly told in Act 22:9 . Yet they did hear that something was being uttered. Hence ‘sound’ appears to be a more accurate representation of the fact intended by the expression. And this is confirmed by a nice difference in the form of the Greek phrase; for the genitive (expressive of partition) is used where the physical effect was incomplete, the accusative where the words were sent home in power. In spiritual reception the genitive is always used; for who among men could be said to have heard in full what the voice of the Son of God imports?

On rising up Saul proved to be without power to see, blinded, we may well say, with excessive light. So they led him by the hand into Damascus (ver. 8), and for three days without seeing he did neither eat nor drink (ver. 9). A deep work thus went on in a soul capable of feeling grace and truth as profoundly as he could judge himself according to the light of God, which had exposed the vain wickedness of formalism in its best shape, and brought down the zealous missionary, armed with inquisitorial power, where Job of old was brought – to abhor self in dust and ashes.

Thus was brought to pass a conversion of the highest character and the deepest interest, pregnant with widespread results never to pass away. The miracle found its justification, not only in the moral principles of the case or in the dispensational display at that point in God’s ways, but especially in the all-importance of such a heavenly revelation of His Son. Nevertheless Saul, when converted, though designated to a ministry which transcends that of every other man, enters the sphere of Christian confession by the same lowly portal as any other.

‘Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here], Lord. And the Lord [said] unto him, Rise up, and go to the lane that is called Straight, and seek in Judas’ house one of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he prayeth and hath seen in a vision1 a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands1 on him, so that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered, Lord, I heard2 from many of this man, how much evil he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem, and here he hath authority from the high priests to bind all that call on Thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go, for he is a vessel of election to Me, to bear My name before both3 Gentiles and kings and sons of Israel; for I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake. And Ananias went and entered into the house; and laying his hands upon him he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus that appeared to thee in the way which thou camest hath sent me, so that thou mightest receive sight and be filled with [the] Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received sight,’ and rising up he was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened’ (vers. 10-19).

1 ‘in a vision’, though given by most MSS. and Vv. finds no support in A61 Vulg. Sah. Memph. Aeth. There are also several changes of order in the words in these verses, and the oldest MSS. incline to the plural form of ‘hands’ where the Text. Rec. after most has the singular.

2 The perfect has most MSS., but the more ancient give the aorist.

3 ‘both’ ABCE, eight cursives, et al., but is wrongly added by B Cp.m.

There is much to learn from the connection of Ananias with the new convert, total strangers to each other as they had been, save that the former well knew by public rumour of the latter’s fierce enmity to all who called on the name of the Lord. He was himself a devout man according to the law, of unimpeachably good report among the Israelites of Damascus (Act 22:12 ). Such was the man who had a vision of the Lord about Saul, as Saul had about Ananias: both corroborative, in the most simple and important way, of the miracle put forth on the occasion of Saul’s conversion. If we see sometimes an economy of divine power, here the dullest cannot but own a striking affluence; as indeed the end in view was most worthy. For in the testimony of the fresh witness were developed the displays of grace and truth, of the gospel and of the church, of individual Christianity and of corporate blessedness, of the deepest truth for man’s soul, of the fullest vindication of divine righteousness, of past wisdom in God’s ways manifested, of future counsels of glory for heaven and earth and eternity to the praise of God and His Son: the grounds of all this and more were first laid out, as they had never been before and never need to be again. Who, acquainted with God’s ways in His word, can wonder at the special pains taken to furnish outward vouchers of unusual fullness and of unquestionable force, so as to preclude all reasonable imputation of delusion on the one hand or of collusion on the other? The Lord has here seen to this remarkably: let us not overlook it.

Ananias had communications from the Lord (vers. 10-12), which even in vision drew out the expression of his extreme surprise. Nor can there be conceived a more exquisite unfolding of the free intercourse which grace has now opened between the heart of the Master in heaven and that of the servant on earth. Ananias on one side ventures respectfully even to the verge of remonstrance (vers. 13, 14), after being told to seek Saul at Judas’ house and recover his sight; as the Lord on the other overrules a]l reluctance by the assurance not only of His own abounding grace, but of Saul’s genuine repentance fitting him for the wonderful work to which he was henceforth called (vers. 15, 16). How entirely then may we not pour out our exercises of heart into His bosom, how implicitly count on His loving interest, Who has all things at His disposal, and interests Himself in our history from first to last! For His eye of love is on the praying at such a house in such a street, no less than on the vast sweep of Christian life and service from Arabia to Damascus, from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum, yea to Rome if not Spain, where His own name would be borne before both nations and kings and sons of Israel, when the many doings of Saul over the world of that day would be less than his many sufferings for Christ’s name. Truly he was a vessel of election to the Lord, in labours of love most abundant, in sufferings for Christ yet more unparalleled.

1 ‘Forthwith’ is here added in Text. Rec., but very high authority excludes the word, which is needless.

Ananias promptly obeys, goes to the house where Saul lodged, and, laying his hands on him, told out the errand on which he was sent, not only to restore Saul’s sight but that he should be filled with the Spirit. The force of the message lay in this that the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to Saul in the way, now sent Ananias supernaturally to convey His blessing. How evident that God was at work, and that the Lord Jesus was the revealer of His mind and the medium of His mercy, as He is the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His subsistence; not more surely man than God, and now the Man glorified at His right hand Who searches the reins and hearts, and controlled Ananias no less than Saul! If the vanity of man in his best estate was manifest to Saul’s conscience (and no man had such reason as he to know this experimentally), the grace of God in the Lord Jesus was equally evident. ‘And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received sight, and rising up he was baptized, and he took food and was strengthened.’ Saul submitted to baptism like any other. He was baptized by a simple disciple; and he himself subsequently taught others to lay no stress on his own baptizing anyone (1Co 1:14-17 ).

‘I thank God I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius (he wrote to the vain Corinthians), ‘lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; besides I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.’ The proclamation of the truth is far beyond the administration of its sign. So we shall see that Peter preached at Caesarea, but consigned to others the baptizing of Cornelius with his kinsmen and his near friends. Indeed the same thing appears here; for nothing would have been easier than to have employed an official, at least a ‘deacon’, if this had been desirable in God’s sight, Who surely has no pleasure in breaking down His own order. A ‘disciple’ baptizes the great apostle of the Gentiles.

But the most striking fact in all the transaction is the gift of the Spirit through Ananias, so decidedly did the wisdom of God in Saul’s case break through the ordinary method of conferring the Spirit through the hands of an apostle, if, for special reasons, hands were employed at all. Here the utmost care was taken to mark God laying all human pretensions in the dust. The employment of a disciple like Ananias lays the axe to the root of official pride; and this where the Lord was calling out the most honoured servant He ever deigned to use.

There is another remark to note of still more general importance, which the history of Saul’s conversion brings into evidence. We must not confound, as popular preachers and teachers do, the reception of life and salvation. Life is always given immediately; not so salvation. Saul was quickened the moment he believed in the Lord Jesus. But this is quite distinct from what scripture calls ‘salvation’; and hence we see, in the state of Saul, during the intermediate three days, a plain testimony to this important difference.

What searchings of heart!1 What deep questions were discussed in his soul during those days and nights, when he neither ate nor drank! Yet divine life was there all the while as truly as afterwards, faith too in the word of God, and in His glory Who had smitten him down and revealed Himself to him and in him. But was this peace with God? Was it rest? Was he delivered consciously from all condemnation? Salvation is found in believing the gospel which presents the work of Christ in all its fullness as God’s answer to every difficulty of the conscience and heart. It is not therefore, a mere confiding in the Lord for ultimate safety, but present deliverance enjoyed by the soul. Into this Saul was now brought. It is a great mistake therefore to talk of ‘salvation in a moment’, ‘deliverance on the spot’, or any other of the stock phrases of superficial revivalism, which ignore the word of God and spring from the confusion of life with salvation. After truly looking to the person of Christ with its soul-subduing power, a deep process habitually goes on in renewed souls, who are not satisfied with ‘life for a look’, but face the overwhelming discovery of not only all they have done, but all they are in its evil and enmity against God and His Son. Self is thus judged in the light, and humiliation is produced, without which there can be no solid and settled peace. In the style of preaching referred to this is slurred over to the danger and injury of souls, quite as much as to the slighting of the full truth so due to Christ’s glory.

1 Calvin apparently sees only terror, and makes the abstinence part of the miracle. Can one conceive a stranger absence of spiritual perception?

And therein also is seen the practical importance of distinguishing the new birth of the Spirit from the gift of the Spirit, as we have repeatedly pointed out in expounding this Book. The one goes with our believing on the Lord, when first arrested by God’s word in the midst of open sins or of proud self-righteousness; the other is, when the soul (ploughed up by the word and learning its hopeless evil before God, humbled as well as troubled, yet not without hope, for Christ is believed in) finds in His all-efficacious work Who for him died and rose, that his evil is all gone, root and branch and fruit, and that he is in Christ, a child of God and joint-heir with Christ, yea, dead and risen with Him, and so freed from all that can be against him that he might live unto God.

Of this, burial with Christ is the instituted symbol to which every Christian submits; salvation is the expression of its standing privilege. Hence in his First Epistle (1Pe 3:21 ) Peter brings in the comparison with Noah’s ark, and the passing through the waters of death as the way of salvation; so Christ died personally and efficaciously for our sins, as we in spirit when baptized. The apostle carefully distinguishes between the mere outward effect of the water, and points to the true power in Christ’s death and resurrection, of which baptism is the figure. Expressly, however, it is a figure, not of life, but of salvation, present salvation of souls; as we await the coming of the Lord for the salvation of our bodies when we shall be like Him even outwardly, seeing Him as He is.

Calvin will have it that Ananias laid hands on Saul, partly to consecrate him to God [from the context one gathers, ministerially], partly to obtain for him the gifts of the Spirit. It would not be worth noticing in general, for both are absolutely wrong, but the errors of great and good men are proportionately dangerous. The blessed man says of himself, ‘Paul, apostle not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father Who raised Him up from among the dead’ (Gal 1:1 ). Nor can we too vigilantly reject the error that confounds the gift () of the Spirit, or, we may add, the being filled with the Holy Spirit, with ‘the gifts’ (). Nor does it appear afterwards by the narrative that Ananias was also commanded to teach him, any more than this was implied in his subsequently baptizing him. How ready even the excellent of the earth to let slip, or add to, and so spoil, the holy deposit of the truth! It would rather appear that Ananias laid hands on Saul to cure his blindness, before he was baptized; after which he was filled with the Holy Spirit, without a hint of any such act subsequent to baptism.

Thus simply is brought before us the call and conversion of the great apostle, containing within the account itself the germ of that which was to be unfolded in his Epistles and called out by the demands of the work which mostly gave occasion to the Epistles.

It may be noticed that to bear Christ’s name before Gentiles has the first place, the sons of Israel being put last, with ‘kings’ placed between them. He was to be ‘apostle of Gentiles’ (Rom 11:13 ). For this, the call of the Lord from heaven was most appropriate. On earth He had sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When He sends from heaven, Israel ceases to have any such place. All mankind, before this, had joined and been lost in one common guilt. The Jews had even led the Gentiles to crucify Him. Israel’s superiority after the flesh was therefore clean gone. Sovereign grace alone governs henceforth; and therefore, if any are to be prominently named, it is rather those who are most needy. Of such Saul was characteristically apostle.

‘And Heb 1 was certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And immediately in the synagogues he preached Jesus,2 that He is the Son of God. And all that heard [him] were amazed and said, Is not this he that in Jerusalem made havoc of those that called on this name, and had3 come hither for this thing, that he might bring them bound before the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in power and confounded the3 Jews that dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is the Christ’ (vers. 19-22).

1 The Text. Rec. on inferior authority adds ‘Saul’.

2 It is ‘Jesus’ in ABCE, sixteen cursives, Vulg. Syrr. Memph, et al. One of the Aeth, has ‘Jesus’ only, the other ‘Jesus Christ’.

3 Most copies but not the best have the perfect in ver. 21. Only p.m. B omit the article in ver. 22. Other minute differences may be left.

Hence we have a new departure of at least equal importance. From the very first Saul proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God. This gave a new and higher character to the preaching.

The other apostles knew it but are not said to have preached it. Peter had long ago confessed the great truth with singular strength, and the Lord had pronounced him thereon blessed; for flesh and blood had not revealed it to him but His Father, that is in heaven (Mat 16:16 , Mat 16:17 ). Yet do we never find Peter preaching or proclaiming the Lord thus at Pentecost and afterwards. He sets forth the crucified Jesus as having been made both Lord and Christ. He dwells on His death, resurrection, and ascension. He represents Him as from heaven pouring forth the Holy Ghost, having received of the Father that promised gift. The greatest prominence is given to Jesus as the now glorified Servant of the God of Israel, exalted by God’s right hand as Leader and Saviour to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. Peter preached Him thus fully, but only as the Messiah, Whom His people had rejected, Whom God had raised from the dead and would send from heaven in due time, to bring down all promised blessing. Beyond this he does not preach Christ, so far as the Book of Acts teaches.

Stephen went beyond this at any rate in his last discourse. ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.’ Anyone familiar with the Psalms and the Prophets ought to have discovered, at least by the light of the New Testament, the import of this new title. It opens out assuredly a far larger glory for the Lord than the realm of Israel. The Son of man is set over, not all mankind only, but all creation, He only being excepted (which shows its immense range) Who set all things under Him. In Psa 8:5 it is intimated that His humiliation unto death was the ground and way whereby the Lord passed into this glorious supremacy, and that we Christians see Him already crowned with glory and honour in consequence, though not yet do we see all things subjected to Him. Dan 7:13 , Dan 7:14 shows Him coming with the clouds of heaven in this same glory to the Ancient of days, and receiving dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him – an everlasting dominion withal, which shall not pass away neither shall His kingdom be destroyed, as that of all others had been. In this glory, however, before He comes to judge the quick and the dead, Stephen beholds Him through the opened heavens at the right hand of God. No doubt this was a sight miraculously vouchsafed to the proto-martyr, but what he then witnessed on high is revealed for us also to know and profit by even now in the Spirit.

Saul of Tarsus brings us an immense step beyond, for He proclaims Jesus in His proper and divine glory as the Son of God; whilst it was reserved for John, the apostle, to give his most admirable record of the Lord in this self-same way and to show how the intrinsic glory of His person superseded every object hitherto precious in the eyes of Israel, a divine glory, which could not be hid though veiled in flesh, and which manifested itself on departing by sending down from heaven the other Paraclete, though (not less than Himself) a divine person, the Spirit of truth, not only to glorify Him, but that we might have fellowship with those who most of all enjoyed His presence here below; ‘and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.’

It is well to notice that Saul thus preached Jesus ‘immediately’ and ‘in the synagogues’. Hence we may see how powerfully, and the more so because indirectly, the account of Luke confirms his own explicit statement to the Galatians (Gal 1:12 ) that he did not receive the gospel he preached from man, nor was he taught it but by revelation of Jesus Christ. How strikingly too all this, so different from what learned and pious men say or think about it, falls in with the character of his preaching so distinct from all before him: the same Jesus, but His glory viewed neither as connected with Israel, nor as conferred because of His sufferings, but higher up and divinely personal!

That he was formed in his peculiar line by Ananias is more worthy of a Corinthian than of a Reformer, though natural in those who lay exaggerated and unscriptural stress on human elements for the training of Christ’s servants. God is sovereign in this as elsewhere. The Lord had His own aims in calling Saul and Luke, as in calling the differing cases of Peter and James. He can call from learning and science whether to pour contempt on human pride in such fields or to use them as He pleases; He can call from the land or sea those who have never known the schools to prove Himself superior to that which the vain world inordinately values. But Saul preached ‘immediately’, and ‘in the synagogues’. What a testimony to conscience that he should preach Jesus, and preach Him as the Son of God!

The reader will observe that for ‘Christ’ in the Authorized Version after the Text. Rec. of verse 20 is here substituted ‘Jesus’, as it stands in the best authorities, followed by the Revised Version and by others founded on carefully collated authorities. It is not improbable that the later copies which introduced the error may have been swayed by ignorant considerations of a quasi-Christian sort, unless it were a mere slip of memory which crept in and got perpetuated among those who understood not the difficulties and wants of such Jews as were addressed. To preach to them ‘the Christ’ or Messiah as the Son of God would have served no adequate purpose and have met with little, if any, opposition. They would have all allowed it in terms, even if none really entered into its full import. But the momentous truth Saul affirmed was as to Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth: and that He is the Son of God. What could be graver to a Jew? To accept it as of God was to condemn the people, and especially the religious, and to find himself in the dust before the Crucified (now risen and on high) for Whom this divine title was claimed in the highest and most exclusive sense. It became the turning-point not for time only but for eternity.

The signal change in the preacher also told powerfully. ‘All that heard were astonished and said, Is not this he that in Jerusalem made havoc of those that called on this name, and had come hither for this thing, that he might bring them bound before the chief priests?’ Such a conversion, coupled with his actual zeal for the truth, could not but be most impressive as grace which had wrought intended it to be. ‘But Saul kept growing more in power and confounding the Jews that dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.’ Here ‘Jesus’ would be quite out of place, and the Messiah is the truth meant; for advance in truth received and learnt from God does not cast a slight on a lower level which is equally of God.

But breadth of mind in taking into consideration an immense sweep of varied truth and harmonizing all in the Lord Jesus to God’s glory is one of the marked traits of His most remarkable servant. The Messiahship of Jesus must ever be a capital matter in dealing with Jews. Higher glories there are, as we have seen, of surpassing interest and importance, and none ever rose higher, in principle at least, than Saul did from his first testimony as we are told. But the lowest point of view had for its urgent and indefatigable advocate the same devoted man who was the earliest to proclaim the highest. None of Christ’s servants has ever shown equal largeness of heart. We may perhaps say of him, in a deeper as well as more heavenly sphere, what God says of king Solomon to whom He gave wisdom and understanding exceeding much, so that God distinguishes him by ‘largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore’ (1Ki 4:29 ). The question of a Christian woman’s wearing her hair long, or her head duly covered, was to him connected with and answered by the vast scope of creation, the theatre of God’s purpose in Christ, which put the man and woman in their true relative place, and brought in the very angels as spectators meant to act on the spirit of such as walk by faith, not by sight (1Co 11:3-16 ). But who, save Saul of Tarsus, to settle a detail in conduct apparently so small, would ever have thought of such a scope in application of God’s order and ways to maintain His moral glory?

The waxing powerful of Saul does not mean that he overcame his adversaries in disputation, but that the Spirit so strengthened him by the deepening of his soul in the divine word, which no doubt did bear down more and more the puny arms of such as opposed themselves. Whatever might have been his vast natural ability, whatever his providential training under Gamaliel, it was in practical dealing with souls in the synagogues or individually that the new nature in the Spirit’s power found its true field of unremitting exercise.

So sudden, surprising, and profound, a conversion as that of Saul (by nature, character, attainments, and position, the most zealous of Jewish adversaries), could not but make the deepest impression on all observers especially those of the circumcision. How confirmatory to the disciples at Damascus! How impressive in the synagogues to hear him proclaim Jesus as the Son of God! How suited to confound those who denied Jesus to be the Christ! God’s grace displayed in it was such as to amaze all that heard. The very opposition of the restless enemy was for the moment paralysed.

‘And when many days were fulfilled, the Jews consulted together to kill him; but their plot became known to Saul. And they were watching the gates also1 day and night that they might kill him; but the2 disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

1 The Text. Rec. has , but the best witnesses give , and so the chief modern editors.

2 The oldest copies, with ancient Latin copies, have the strange reading ‘his’ disciples, which appears to be as easy a slip as out of keeping with the account.

‘And when he arrived at Jerusalem, he essayed to join himself to the disciples, and all were afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took and brought him unto the apostles, and declared to them how he saw the Lord in the way and that He spoke to him, and how in Damascus he preached boldly in the name of Jesus’ (vers. 23-27).

The Spirit of God appears to comprehend in the first verses the space of three years which the apostle spent in Arabia, a fact of great significance as following on his conversion and used powerfully in the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal 1:17 ) to prove how little man, even the twelve, had to do with it. His call was in no way from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father that raised Him from among the dead; even as the gospel he preached was not according to man, nor yet did he receive it from man, nor was he taught it but by revelation of Jesus Christ. It was expressly meant of God to be independent of Jerusalem and the twelve but derived (call, apostolate, and gospel he preached) immediately from the prime source of grace, truth, and authority, the risen Head and God Himself. Thus was secured what was all-important, not only for the Gentile saints then and indeed thenceforward for the due intelligence of Christianity, but for our special profit now so menaced at the end of the age with the revival of the early Judaizing which opposed the full gospel at the beginning, as well as the heavenly independent character of Paul’s office and testimony.

Otherwise it seemed even more extraordinary for Saul than for Moses to go to Arabia. But as there was of old divine wisdom in the long shelter there given to the future leader of Israel, so the break with the flesh was complete in the briefer sojourn of the apostle of the Gentiles, where none on earth could imagine he was winning for himself a good degree either in the humanities or in divinity. Such was God’s ordering manifestly and wholly distinct from man’s ways. He took no counsel with flesh and blood. He went not up to Jerusalem to those that were apostles before him, as all else would have thought most proper if not absolutely requisite. It was designedly on God’s part death to the Jewish system in its best shape and to all successional order that Saul should go to Arabia, and again return to Damascus, and then after three years should go up to Jerusalem, not to receive office at apostolic hands, but to make acquaintance with Peter there remaining but fifteen days, and seeing none other of the apostles save James the brother of the Lord. For his ministry was to be the true and fullest pattern of that which according to the will of God was to follow when the temporary Jerusalem order should pass away, and the Holy Spirit would bring out all the blessed and governing principles of a heavenly Christ for the church His one body on earth, as well as for His servants individually; a ministry of holy liberty, the expression of God’s grace in the full communication of His truth, centring in the divine and glorified person of Christ, to the utter denial of man’s will and of the world’s pride.

But the world, as the Lord had previously warned His disciples, hates those identified with Christ as it had hated Himself, and according to His word would persecute them as it had Him. And so Saul now proves at the hand of his old co-religionists, ever the most bitter. The Jews were plotting to make away with him. ‘Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do because they have not known the Father nor Me’ (Joh 16:2 , Joh 16:3 ). How evidently and deeply true! Nor did any more strikingly and continually verify their truth than Saul of Tarsus. The sword of the Spirit was too incisive in his hands, no matter how great his love and lowliness, not to rouse the unquenchable resentment and deadly enmity of Satan. And when the Jews went so far as even to watch the gates of Damascus both night and day that they might dispatch him, the disciples, much as they appreciated his ardent love of Christ and zeal for man’s blessing, took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. Miracle there was none, but an escape ordinary enough, if not ignominious for those who would surround the great apostle with a perpetual halo. How little they know of the cross, of God, and of His ways!

This escape from murderous hands at Damascus he relates in the wonder-sketch of his devoted labours and sufferings which he recounts to the ease-loving Corinthians when set against the blessed apostle by the deceitful workers there fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ (2Co 11:23-28 ). How admirably suited only to shame those who took care to work and suffer the least possible, but to kindle into burning love the feeblest spark in the true servants of Christ from that day to this! At the close of the list of trials which he gives us as ‘foolishness’ in his confidence of glorying, if others gloried after the flesh, before he says a word of the man in Christ he knows – himself of course, but purposely so put – caught up even to the third heaven, he winds all up with this very incident, in a singularly isolated way, so as to bring into juxtaposition his being let down through a window in a basket by the wall with his being caught up into paradise for exceedingly great revelations (2Co 11:32-12:4 ). Strange conjunction, but how instructive withal, the same man lowered from a window in a city wall, and caught up to heaven to hear unspeakable words! Who but Paul had even thought of thus glorying in the things that concerned his weakness? For, if he did mention his most singular honour as a living man, he took care to tell us how, to counteract all self-exaltation, there was given him thenceforth a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him.

It may be well to note that in 2Co 11:32 , 2Co 11:33 , there is the additional information that the hostility be encountered was not confined to the synagogue but shared by the ethnarch of the then king, no doubt to do the Jews a favour, as others in somewhat the like position did afterwards: ‘In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of Damascus, wishing to take me, and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.’ This is cited, not to confirm the truth of Luke’s account as if the divinely inspired word could be inaccurate or as if it needed support for a believer, but to give a fresh instance of the moral purpose which reigns in all scripture, the true key to that peculiar method of God, which is as perfect for His own glory and the growth of His children, as it furnishes occasion to the unbelief of man who judges all in the self-confidence of his own intellectual powers, at the utmost very limited, great as they may be. Information, important as it is in its place, is one of the least objects in the word of God which lets the faithful into the communion of His mind and love.

But a new and very different lesson now opens in the city of solemnities where not long since great grace was upon all, and the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied exceedingly, and a great crowd of even the priests were obedient to the faith. For Saul, having arrived at Jerusalem, essayed to join himself to the disciples, and all were afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. How painful on the one hand for that vessel full of divine affections, that channel even then overflowing with a testimony of Christ beyond these doubting brethren whose grace was really so small as to question the largest measure that had ever crossed their eyes! But how helpful on the other hand for us and all saints who have to learn that no one is to be received on his own responsibility, but on adequate testimony from others! A man unknown, or only known by circumstances somewhat dubious, must ordinarily have a wonderful opinion of himself, or be surprisingly blind to the duties of others, if he expect to be welcomed within the holy bounds of Christ on the good account he gives of himself. And God’s children must be exceedingly rash or be indifferent to His glory who hold the door open without a commendatory letter, or (if this through circumstances failed) its equivalent in some satisfactory degree. He who cannot present something of the kind ought rather to praise the care for the Lord’s glory in His own, even if it call for a little patience or delay on his part, and never was there a time when such vigilance was more due in the interests of Christ and the church than in its present state. Let the saints only bear in mind that here too as everywhere it is a question not of letter but of spirit. Proof of reality Christward is and ought to be all that is wanted, while indifference to Him, and yielding all to the mere profession of His name, when nothing is so cheap, is the most offensive and guilty looseness. Legality is not well, where all should be grace, but it is at least far less indecent than laxity. A letter of commendation too could be, as we should not forget, most readily forged by an unscrupulous person.

Even if saints be ignorant or prejudiced the Lord never fails and soon raises up an instrument to remove the difficulty. For Barnabas ‘took him and brought him to the apostles,’ (no more, we have seen, than Peter and James) ‘and declared to them how he saw the Lord in the way, and that He spoke to him, and how at Damascus he preached boldly in the name of Jesus’ (ver. 27).

That this course on the part of Barnabas was owing to previous acquaintance with Saul! that they two had studied together at Tarsus! where both knew nothing of the Lord Jesus, and that either, even if true, could be a ground to satisfy the disciples, is just a sample of human guesswork – not to say of false principle – which disgraces those who cultivate such a style in the interpretation of scripture. But Christendom’s hunger after all that tends to exalt the first Adam, as it demands such pabulum, is sure to find the supply where truth is neither trusted nor valued as displayed in Christ to God’s glory. Is not the real key furnished by the sacred historian in a subsequent glimpse at Barnabas in Act 11:23 , Act 11:24 ? When he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted accordingly; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Nor was it in Antioch only or first that grace wrought mightily in him; for in far earlier days than either he had been singled out for what God had produced in him, in contrast with Ananias and Sapphira who had agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord (Act 4:36 , Act 4:37 , Act 5:1 , Act 5:2 ).

How much one gracious heart can effect, and how little it matters what the circumstances may be through which it seeks to please the Lord and help those that are tried! Yet how often, when such a character is formed and proved, a crisis arises too strong for all but the present guidance of the Lord above all that is of man, and grace in all its fullness must control graciousness quite breaking down! And so Barnabas proved at a later day. How little any then could have anticipated that Saul would be the one to reprove Peter as well as Barnabas (Gal 2:13 ) for the allowance of flesh or law to the jeopardy of the truth of the gospel! Yet so we know it was, and scripture has set it out in glowing and imperishable words to preserve us in our weakness from like error. How thankful should we be for the condescending mercy of our God Who would thus turn to our account the mistakes even of the most honoured, instead of hiding any or palliating all in the genuine spirit of party to the dishonour of the Lord and the irreparable injury of our own souls.

It may be well to note that this visit to Jerusalem (ver. 26 et seq.) is not to be regarded as immediately consequent, being named here in order to complete the history of Saul thus far by the account of his first introduction to the saints there.

Adequate testimony then to the call of divine grace is the true ground of reception: and the peculiar antecedents of Saul brought it out in high relief. There are very different circumstances now where the world in these lands calls itself Christian. But the principle abides, though profession in an easy-going estate where corruptions (moral, ecclesiastical, and doctrinal) abound is as far as possible from calling on the name of the Lord in the face of opposed nature and persecution private or public. It is of the deepest moment that all for each soul should turn on His name, the only passport which ought to be demanded as thus directly magnifying Him, the best of all safeguards against the world, the flesh, and the devil; for His name is the death-knell of all evil, whatever its varying form. To that Name the highest of earth must bow and be indebted for recognition when every tongue confesses Him Lord to the glory of God the Father but the same Name introduces the most down-trodden slave into the fullness of grace now with living hope of heavenly and everlasting glory. And though His name solemnly summons every one that names it to stand aloof from unrighteousness, against none here and at once does it threaten such scathing judgment as when men (no matter what their fame, credit, or pretensions) bring not the doctrine of Christ.

But the assembly, profoundly engaged to care for the common interests of that Name, looks for trustworthy testimony as to each soul that names it. This gives the fullest scope to faith and love in the saints already within who, seeking the glory of the Lord in those that confess Him, are, according to their measure, reliable witnesses, whether for receiving a Saul of Tarsus, or for rejecting a Simon Magus. For if all have communion as saints in what is done, and are free, yea bound, to satisfy themselves, the evidence on which they judge practically rests with such as, enjoying the confidence of all, have love enough to ascertain the truth. The church acts on witnesses it believes. So it is shown in the striking instance before us that we might be guided aright in our own duty, even where the outward features are as unlike as possible. But, the church being a divine institution and not a mere voluntary society even of saints, there is a holy and wise principle which governs (or at least it ought, and will if done rightly), bringing out the Lord’s glory, as in Saul’s case. Active love, animated by a single eye to Christ, will see clearly and judge aright.

‘And he was with them going in and going out at1 Jerusalem,2 preaching boldly in the name of the Lord3, and he was speaking and discussing with the Hellenists4, but they had in hand to kill him. And when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off unto Tarsus’ (vers. 28-30).

1 ABCELP, et al., H., Syrr. Pst. & Hcl., Arm. thiop.

2 ABC Fuld, Arm., et al., omit the copulative: EHLP Vulg. Syrr. Cop., et al, insert.

3 T.R. with p.m. HLP, et al., add , but p.m ABE and Versions omit; only, is read by C, Syr. Pst.

4 A is alone of the uncials in reading , all others giving .

Liberty was thus enjoyed whether for fellowship or for testimony. It is indeed essential to Christianity and in contrast with the law which genders bondage. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’; or, as He Himself testified, ‘I am the door, by Me if any one enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture.’ Salvation, liberty, and food are assured by His grace: and so Saul was proving at this time even in Jerusalem. What could be sweeter than to taste it for his soul, where tradition had so lately blinded his eyes, and zeal for the law led him to persecute the way of divine grace unto death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women?

But there was more than this – bold utterance in the name of the Lord, which well becomes the object of grace. If ‘this day is a day of good tidings’, and assuredly it is, beyond all that ever dawned, how hold our peace? Not so did the four leprous men, when famine pressed the city of Samaria, and they found the deserted camp of the Syrians full of every good thing for those that were otherwise perishing with hunger (2Ki 7:9 ). And who in Jerusalem more than Saul, its late emissary of bonds or death for all that called on the name of the Lord, could with godly assurance proclaim His name by faith in it to strengthen the weak and release the captives, to give life to the dead and liberty to the oppressed, or (as he said in a later day) to open their eyes, that they might turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, receiving remission of sins and inheritance among those that are sanctified by faith in Christ? For free and bold testimony in His name is the fruit of His grace, no less than liberty for one’s own soul; and in this order too. We need to be set free from every hindrance and weight and doubt and question, we need the liberty wherewith Christ sets free, before the mouth can open boldly to make known His grace and glory to others. It is not to angels that God subjected the habitable earth to come but to Christ Who will give His saints to reign with Him. It is not to angels that He gives the gospel commission but to His servants who were once children of wrath even as others. How soon even Christians forgot His ways and returned to the yoke of bondage and to fleshly successional order, to the rudiments of the world which played their fatal part in crucifying the Lord, now to find themselves, if God be believed, set aside and condemned to death in His cross!

But Saul, as he lets us know, when called by grace to have God’s Son revealed in him that he might preach Him among the Gentiles, immediately conferred not with flesh and blood, but went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Even when he did go up to Jerusalem, it was ‘to see (or visit) Peter’, not to take holy orders, any more than to go through a theological curriculum, for ‘he abode with him fifteen days’ seeing none other of the apostles save James the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:15-19 ). And on this he speaks with impressive urgency, as a matter of the deepest moment for God’s glory that the truth of his independent mission should be established for ever and beyond question, bound up as it is with the gospel revealed by him in a fullness and height beyond all others. In Jerusalem too we see his full liberty and his bold testimony to the Lord’s name.

All was ordered that the truth of the gospel might continue with the Gentiles; but with the Jews also he maintains the same principle and conduct. Alas! it was ill appreciated. For on the one hand, the Gentiles have not continued in God’s goodness but throughout Christendom have turned back, like a dog to its own vomit; judaizing so egregiously as to give people the impression that the gospel is a sort of half-improved, half-mitigated, law, instead of being the perfect expression of God’s grace in justifying ungodly sinners by the faith of Christ in virtue of His death and resurrection. On the other hand, when Saul turned in the name of the Lord to the Hellenists, or Greek-speaking Jews, with the loving zeal of a hater of party, to impart the truth which had set himself free, seeking not theirs but them, they betrayed how little those are subject to God’s law who despise and refuse His gospel, for they went about to kill him. They were but Abraham’s seed, not his children (Joh 8:33 Joh 8:44 ): if they had been his children, they would have done the works of Abraham. They had really the devil for their father, a murderer and a liar from the beginning; and his works they did.

It is needless to dwell on the error whether of old MS. or of ancient version, which makes the apostle speak and dispute at this early day with the ‘Greeks’ in Jerusalem. In fact it was with the same class which furnished ‘the seven’ who had been set over the daily ministration; of whom Stephen and Philip had been so highly honoured also in the word (Act 6:1-5 ). Saul was drawn out the more toward them, as no longer a bigot, but one who sought out the Hellenists the more as he had been the prime energetic leader in the persecution that followed Stephen’s death. Now he himself is exposed to their deadly hatred; ‘and when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.’ It seems clear that this was not Caesarea Philippi, but rather the seat of the Roman governor, whence he readily went by sea. Nor is Gal 1:21 any real difficulty; for it only informs us that he then came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia, which was easy by ship; and the following verse intimates that he was still unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.

‘The assembly1 then, throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria, had1 peace, being edified1; and walking1 in the fear of the2 Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, was multiplied’ (ver. 31).

1 The singular is read by ABC Vulg. Syr. Pst., Sah. Cop. Arm. thiop, Erp Arab., et al., as against the plural of the Text. Rec. HLP Syr. Hcl (and E, ).

2 The article is omitted by A, though read by all others.

There seems no good ground to make this verse the concluding sentence of the paragraph, as the state of the church throughout these districts is not meant to be connected with Saul one way or another. It is rather, while attending to their past trial, an introduction to the account of Peter’s visit which immediately succeeds, and it can thereon well stand by itself.

Having given us the peaceful and prosperous condition of the church throughout Palestine, the Spirit of God now turns to speak of Peter. He that wrought effectually in him, the great apostle of the circumcision, had just shown us the mighty vessel of His grace called to do work among the Gentiles. But Saul of Tarsus is dropped for the present, and we have the familiar figure of Peter brought before us, not in Jerusalem, nor yet in Samaria as once with John, but alone on a visitation of Judea. If there was peace for the church, there was no less power than at the first in him who was behind none since Pentecost.

‘Now it came to pass that Peter going through all [parts] came down also to the saints inhabiting Lydda. And there he found a certain man named neas, for eight years lying on a couch, who was paralysed. And Peter said to him, neas, Jesus [the]3 Christ heareth thee: rise up and make thy couch. And immediately he rose up. And all that inhabited Lydda and the4 Sharon saw him, who also turned to the Lord’ (vers. 32-35).

3 Bp.m. C with half a dozen cursives, et al. omit the article which is supported by the great mass of copies.

4 I presume the Revisers meant to distinguish between the town and the district by ‘at Lydda and in Sharon’.

Grace thus used the apostle, not merely for the edification of the saints but for winning fresh souls to God. Lydda or Lod was at this time a considerable town – as Josephus informs us, not behind a city in size. And there God wrought a miracle, to arrest unbelievers, in the person of neas. It does not appear that he was a believer, being described as ‘a certain man’. Indeed, as the rule, believers were not objects of miraculous power, however often they may have been its instruments. Timothy is exhorted by the apostle to use ordinary means: ‘Be no longer a water-drinker, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.’ Epaphroditus drew out in his sickness deep exercises in Paul’s heart; and Trophimus, the apostle left at Miletus, sick, instead of healing him. The Lord has His special dealings with such: not even an apostle would interfere. But as tongues were for a sign to unbelievers, so, on such, power was free to act to God’s glory, and the cure of the long-palsied neas became a striking testimony to all the dwellers around.

The manner of Peter’s action and his words are remarkable: ‘neas, Jesus [the] Christ heareth thee: rise up and make thy couch.’ And so it was straightway: power to help himself as well as to rise up. The power of God was exercised in this serious case of one palsied for eight years through the true but rejected Christ. Jehovah-Jesus was the healer of disease. It was but a testimony now. What He did on a small scale during this present evil age is only a sample of the world or age to come. Then He will prove Himself the Forgiver of all Israel’s iniquities and the Healer of all their diseases, according to Psa 103:3 , when His kingdom rules over all.

Meanwhile the word of God acts; the gospel is blessed, for ‘all who inhabited Lydda and the Sharon saw him, who also turned to the Lord.’ Their souls were impressed, so that they gave heed to the truth and turned to the Lord. It was a real work of the Spirit of God, and not simple astonishment at a miracle. But it had also the peculiarity of being very extensive and all-embracing. Whole communities were brought in. Nor was it only that they professed, or were baptised: of this the Holy Spirit says nothing. All in those parts saw the paralyzed man who was on the spot healed in the name of Jesus; and they turned to the Lord. Some who seem disposed to doubt the work of grace in ‘households’, and anxious to reduce it to a merely intellectual recognition of the Lord, if even so much as this, might profitably consider the great work done at Lydda, consequent on the healing of neas. The language here is wholly inconsistent with a sponsorial profession, it was a wide but real action of divine grace, the external sign, which no doubt followed as a conferred privilege, being not even named.

It may be added that K?hn?l has as utterly failed in the grammar as in the exegesis, when he would have this last passage to mean merely that all the Christians (i.e., all those who had turned to the Lord) saw neas restored to health. For though the aorist may occasionally bear or require a pluperfect force in English, in the sentence before us such a rendering is not only uncalled for but destroys the power and dignity of the narrative; whereas the ordinary meaning in the simplest way maintains all that could be desired, crowning the miracle wrought, with a worthy and blessed spiritual result, instead of a close so frigid and feeble as to sink below not scripture only but any writing whatever. Grammatically too the indefinite relative is just the word proper to introduce the statement of a moral nature or character.

But it may interest some to know that Lydda in the New Testament is no other than the Lod of 1Ch 8:12 ; Ezr 2:33 ; Neh 7:37 , Neh 11:35 , called Ludd or Lidi to this day, scarcely so ‘miserable a village’ as Messrs. Webster and Wilkinson think, if we are to credit the popular report of Dr. Thomson, who represents it as a flourishing community of some two thousand persons, evidently thriving and industrious, ’embosomed in noble orchards of olive, fig, pomegranate, mulberry, sycamore and other trees, and surrounded every way by a very fertile neighbourhood.’ Ono, Hadid, and Neballat, of old associated with Lod, have still their representatives distinctly enough under their modern disguise.

Further, though Calvin lays it down confidently that the Sharon (or Assaron,1 as he calls it) was a city hard by, and slights Jerome’s thought that thereby is meant the plain lying between Caesarea and Joppa, there is no good reason to doubt that the early translator is right, not the reformer. And the minute accuracy of the Greek text affords a striking evidence to the reader in the article prefixed to ‘Sharon’, not to Lydda. So invariably is it in the Hebrew, where the same district is referred to (1Ch 27:29 ; Son 2:1 , Isa 33:9 , Isa 35:2 , Isa 65:10 ), whereas the article is dropped where the same name is applied to a different locality on the other side of Jordan and not improbably a town of the Gadites. ‘The Sharon’ lay north of another district, ‘the Sephelah’, which in our Version has fared worse than ‘the Sharon’ in having been quite stripped of its character as a proper name and reduced to ‘the vale’ and other vague terms.

l So HLP and many cursives, manuscripts which probably point to the Hebrew article. Cf. Jos 12:18 (Lasharon). The Sinaitic indeed erroneously omits the article before the word, but it is added as a correction.

Here then it was that the energy of the Spirit was pleased to win glory to the Lord Jesus and to bless souls by Peter at the very time when sovereign grace was preparing another and yet more favoured servant of Christ, not only to proclaim the gospel in the whole creation, but to complete the word of God, the mystery that had been hid from ages and from generations. Yet another and greater exertion of divine power was soon to follow, and a more distinct testimony of grace to the Gentiles through Peter himself, as we shall see in the immediate sequel, and according to a wisdom that never failed. But one may not anticipate more at this time. Grace would ere long work more profoundly as well as indiscriminately; the heavenly side of the gospel must shine out more distinctly and suitably to Him Who sits the glorified Man, at the right hand of God. But it was from no lack of zealous testimony on Peter’s part; nor was it that power from above failed in his ministry to put honour on the name of Jesus, or to shed blessing on the souls that believed. But all the divine counsels must be duly revealed as well as accomplished in their season; and God has His fitting ways no less than His counsels. And we do well to take heed to His word which reveals all this and more, that we may be completely furnished to every good work.

Another circumstance of like kind at a different place gave occasion for the power of God to display itself by Peter still more wonderfully.

‘Now, in Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which, being interpreted is called Dorcas (Gazelle). She was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days that she fell sick and died: and, having washed, they laid her in an upper1 room. And as Lydda was near to Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there sent two men unto him, beseeching, Delay2 not to come on to us. And Peter rose up and went with them, whom, on his arrival, they brought up into the upper room; and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and cloaks which Dorcas used to make while she was with them. But Peter, putting them all forth and kneeling down, prayed, and, turning unto the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. And, giving her a hand, he raised her up, and calling the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout the whole of Joppa, and many believed on the Lord; and it came to pass that he remained many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner’ (vers. 36-43).

1 Lachmann, following ACE (and many cursives), reads ‘the’, but the best and most ancient copies confirm the common reading with all other editors.

2 The ancient copies give the entreaty more graphically than the Text. Rec.

Will it be believed that a professed and not unlearned translator of the New Testament dared thus to render the opening verse: ‘Moreover, there was among the disciples at Joppa a woman named Tabitha, who was always doing good works and giving alms’? I cite from Gilbert Wakefield’s second edition ii. 27, though I cannot say (not having its predecessor) whether this is one of its alleged ‘improvements’ or a mere reproduction of the first. It is the note (on page 375) which is so offensive: – ‘I have left out the impertinent explanation in this verse, because, even if no interpolation it must be either ridiculous or unintelligible in a translation.’ It is the more shameless from one who allows himself no such audacity in his rendering (as among many like passages) of Joh 1:38 , Joh 1:41 , Joh 1:42 , with all three of which he deals fairly. Now what is the fact in our case? It is the true Aramaic form of that time and country; so Gamaliel’s maid was called; and Josephus (B.J. iv. iii. 5) gives as Luke does the same corresponding Greek name to the mother of a certain truculent John, as the English reader can see in Dr. Traill’s Tr. ii. 64. The Hebrew word that answers to it means ‘beauty’; but it is commonly used of a ‘gazelle’, ‘hart’, or ‘roe’, as in Deut.; 2 Sam.; Song of Solomon. So in our own tongue men and women are called Buck, Doe, Roe, Stag, and the like. In Lucret. iv. 1154 it occurs as a term of endearment. Where is the ‘impertinence’ of such an explanation? Only in the empty, presumptuous, and profane mind of Mr. Wakefield. I take the trouble of refuting it, as a caution to the misinformed not to be imposed on by the unconscious impiety of such as believe not the inspired character of Holy Writ. Whenever they assail that word, it would be easy to expose their self-sufficient folly.

Tabitha, or Dorcas, then, is described as a disciple at Joppa, who was a doer of the word and not a hearer only; for her pure and undefiled service before her God and Father was to remember the widows in their affliction, keeping herself unspotted from the world. $he was as full of good works and alms-deeds as of faith. In those days then she sickened and died. Now if washed in the usual way, she was laid in an upper room, a suitable place to await the arrival of the apostle. For it seems not obscurely implied that the disciples looked for more than consolation in sending messengers for the apostle just at that moment and admitting of no delay;1 as he on his part promptly met their entreaty. As usual the scene is livingly before us, though it is with Peter for the central figure, not Paul of whom Luke was the cherished companion. But what mattered this or that if the Spirit inspired him to give us the truth to Christ’s praise? He certainly had it all before Him as it was, though Luke was not there: and no jealousy for his leader tarnished one word of Luke’s narrative. There they were in the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by Peter, not in tears only but displaying the work of Dorcas’ loving hands, the clothes inner and outer which she used to make while she was with them.

1 The marginal reading (ver. 38) of the Authorized Version (‘be grieved’) is in no way suitable as a rendering here, though habitually used in classical authors for the hesitation of shame, pity, or alarm. They were led to retain it in the margin through their respect for Tyndale, followed by Cranmer. The Geneva V. discarded it rightly. The Rhemites give ‘Be not loth’, though Wiclif had translated correctly, as they adhered servilely to the Vulgate. Num 22:16 ; Jdg 18:9 are unquestionable precedents in the LXX., and so Josephus, Ant. ii. 7.

But Peter had not come for condolence only or chiefly, but for the glory of God that Jesus the Son of God might be glorified in her who was gone. So, putting them all out and kneeling down, he prayed. He sought not to display the great work about to be done; he sought the Lord only, and with that grave reverence which became one who walked in presence of the Unseen Who alone could avail. Here again how vividly graphic is the recital! yet no eye of man was on Peter and the body of the disciple. He Who wrought in power through one servant has told us it through another. Some of old in east and west and south have ventured to add ‘In the name of [our Lord] Jesus Christ’.2 If they meant honour, they were guilty of a heinous wrong. ‘Add thou not unto His words.’ The inspiring Spirit has given us the truth perfectly. Enough to know that Peter knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, said, Tabitha, arise. Spoil not the word of God, O man, unworthy of the name of a believer, unworthy of the task of a translator, or of an expositor, by thy unhallowed glosses. His prayer proved to Whom He looked and on Whom He leaned; but we may not take from His words in Act 3:6 , nor add to them in Act 9:40 , nor assimilate either one or other to Act 9:34 . Let us be assured that each is as God wrote it, and therefore as each should be: our place is to receive humbly, believe confidingly, and enjoy to the uttermost.

2 So in the Thebaic, Armenian, Philox. Syriac; Cyprian, et al.

The power of the Lord was there, according to His servant’s prayer, not to heal as before, but to raise the dead. ‘And she opened her eyes; and seeing Peter, sat up. And, giving her a hand, he raised her up; and calling the saints [who had the deepest and least interested feeling] and the widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout the whole of Joppa.’

Yet it is to be remarked that the moral or spiritual effect is not to be measured by the comparative character or measure of the power displayed. When the paralysed neas was healed, all who inhabited Lydda turned to the Lord, when the far greater wonder was wrought of raising up the deceased Dorcas in Joppa, no such wide or large effect followed, but ‘many believed on the Lord’; a blessed result for these souls, and to His glory assuredly, but, as far as we may gather from scripture, by no means so comprehensive now as then. After all it is the word which is the true and right means of conversion to Him, whatever may be the means used to draw attention to His word. For His grace is sovereign, and refuses the plausible reasoning of men.

There is another word which the Spirit adds at the close, and not without its importance: ‘And it came to pass that he remained many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.’ The veil drops over the recollections of Dorcas if she had any about her recent experience, as in the case of Lazarus and all others raised from the dead. But of the great apostle of the circumcision, through whom pseudo-apostles claimed succession over the uncircumcision! as well as a monarch’s patrimony, we are told that he stayed a good many days in Joppa at the house of a certain tanner who bore his own name of Simon. Has this no voice to those who easily believe that they too stand ‘first’ in the church of God in our day? No true apostle according to scripture ever possessed, ever sought, wealth or rank in virtue of his office. Alas! it is not only power that is departed, but, what is far more serious, the spirit of obedience and the simplicity of faith, which last invests the least thing on earth, that Christ gives or sanctions, with the halo of heaven.

But there is also consistency with Christ to be maintained; and Christ was crucified on earth no less than glorified in heaven. Is the portion we seek, cherish, and defend, in real harmony? It is here and now we are put to the test. Are we allowing the corruption of Christendom to sully our faith or degrade our practice? Do we value, look for, or accept present earthly honour as the fruit of gospel service, and of position in the church? If it be so, let us learn from God’s word that this is not fellowship with Christ’s sufferings, nor are we in this respect at least in the communion of His apostles. Are we doing well in God’s sight if we take conformity to the world so quietly? Christ deserves a better return at our hands. How sad that fidelity to Christ and the cross in our walk of every day should be counted a ‘peculiar view’! ‘Already are ye filled, already ye became rich, ye reigned without us: yea, and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God set forth us the apostles last, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world and angels and men. We are fools for Christ but ye wise in Christ; we weak but ye strong, ye glorious but we without honour’ (1Co 4:8-10 ).

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

Acts

GRACE TRIUMPHANT

Act 9:1 – Act 9:12 ; Act 9:17 – Act 9:20 .

This chapter begins with ‘but,’ which contrasts Saul’s persistent hatred, which led him to Gentile lands to persecute, with Philip’s expansive evangelistic work. Both men were in profound earnest, both went abroad to carry on their work, but the one sought to plant what the other was eager to destroy. If the ‘but’ in Act 9:1 contrasts, the ‘yet’ connects the verse with Act 8:3 . Saul’s fury was no passing outburst, but enduring. Like other indulged passions, it grew with exercise, and had come to be as his very life-breath, and now planned, not only imprisonment, but death, for the heretics.

Not content with carrying his hateful inquisition into the homes of the Christians in Jerusalem, he will follow the fugitives to Damascus. The extension of the persectution was his own thought. He was not the tool of the Sanhedrin, but their mover. They would probably have been content to cleanse Jerusalem, but the young zealot would not rest till he had followed the dispersed poison into every corner where it might have trickled. The high priest would not discourage such useful zeal, however he might smile at its excess.

So Saul got the letters he asked, and some attendants, apparently, to help him in his hunt, and set off for Damascus. Painters have imagined him as riding thither, but more probably he and his people went on foot. It was a journey of some five or six days. The noon of the last day had come, and the groves of Damascus were, perhaps, in sight. No doubt, the young Pharisee’s head was busy settling what he was to begin with when he entered the city, and was exulting in the thought of how he would harry the meek Christians, when the sudden light shone.

At all events, the narrative does not warrant the view, often taken now, that there had been any preparatory process in Saul’s mind, which had begun to sap his confidence that Jesus was a blasphemer, and himself a warrior for God. That view is largely adopted in order to get rid of the supernatural, and to bolster up the assumption that there are no sudden conversions; but the narrative of Luke, and Paul’s own references, are dead against it. At one moment he is ‘yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,’ and in almost the next he is prone on his face, asking, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ It was not a case of a landslide suddenly sweeping down, but long prepared for by the gradual percolation of water to the slippery understrata, but the solid earth was shaken, and the mountain crashed down in sudden ruin.

The causes of Saul’s conversion are plain in the narrative, even though the shortened form is adopted, which is found in the Revised Version. The received text has probably been filled out by additions from Paul’s own account in Act 26:1 – Act 26:32 First came the blaze of light outshining the midday sun, even in that land where its beams are like swords. That blinding light ‘shone round about him,’ enveloping him in its glory. Act 26:13 tells that his companions also were wrapped in the lustre, and that all fell to the earth, no doubt in terror.

Saul is not said, either in this or in his own accounts, to have seen Jesus, but 1Co 15:8 establishes that he did so, and Ananias Act 9:17 refers to Jesus as having ‘appeared.’ That appearance, whatever may have been the psychological account of it, was by Paul regarded as being equal in evidential value to the flesh-and-blood vision of the risen Lord which the other Apostles witnessed to, and as placing him in the same line as a witness.

It is to be noted also, that, while the attendants saw the light, they were not blinded, as Saul was; from which it may be inferred that he saw with his bodily eyes the glorified manhood of Jesus, as we are told that one day, when He returns as Judge, ‘every eye shall see Him.’ Be that as it may,-and we have not material for constructing a theory of the manner of Christ’s appearance to Saul,- the overwhelming conviction was flooded into his soul, that the Jesus whom he had thought of as a blasphemer, falsely alleged to have risen from the dead, lived in heavenly glory, amid celestial brightness too dazzling for human eyes.

The words of gentle remonstrance issuing from the flashing glory went still further to shake the foundations of the young Pharisee’s life; for they, as with one lightning gleam, laid hare the whole madness and sin of the crusade which he had thought acceptable to God. ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’ Then the odious heretics were knit by some mysterious bond to this glorious One, so that He bled in their wounds and felt their pains! Then Saul had been, as his old teacher dreaded they of the Sanhedrin might be, fighting against God! How the reasons for Saul’s persecution had crumbled away, till there were none left with which to answer Jesus’ question! Jesus lived, and was exalted to glory. He was identified with His servants. He had appeared to Saul, and deigned to plead with him.

No wonder that the man who had been planning fresh assaults on the disciples ten minutes before, was crushed and abject as he lay there on the road, and these tremendous new convictions rushed like a cataract over and into his soul! No wonder that the lessons burned in on him in that hour of destiny became the centre-point of all his future teaching! That vision revolutionised his thinking and his life. None can affirm that it was incompetent to do so.

Luke’s account here, like Paul’s in Act 22:1 – Act 22:30 , represents further instructions from Jesus as postponed till Saul’s meeting with Ananias, while Paul’s other account in Act 26:1 – Act 26:32 omits mention of the latter, and gives the substance of what he said in Damascus as said on the road by Jesus. The one account is more detailed than the other, that is all. The gradual unfolding of the heavenly purpose which our narrative gives is in accord with the divine manner. For the moment enough had been done to convert the persecutor into the servant, to level with the ground his self-righteousness, to reveal to him the glorified Jesus, to bend his will and make it submissive. The rest would be told him in due time.

The attendants had fallen to the ground like him, but seem to have struggled to their feet again, while he lay prostrate. They saw the brightness, but not the Person: they heard the voice, but not the words. Saul staggered by their help to his feet, and then found that with open eyes he was blind. Imagination or hallucination does not play tricks of that sort with the organs of sense.

The supernatural is too closely intertwined with the story to be taken out of it without reducing it to tatters. The greatest of Christian teachers, who has probably exercised more influence than any man who ever lived, was made a Christian by a miracle. That fact is not to be got rid of. But we must remember that once when He speaks of it He points to God’s revelation of His Son ‘ in Him’ as its essential character. The external appearance was the vehicle of the inward revelation. It is to be remembered, too, that the miracle did not take away Saul’s power of accepting or rejecting the Christ; for he tells Agrippa that he was ‘not disobedient to the heavenly vision.’

What a different entry he made into Damascus from what he expected, and what a different man it was that crawled up to the door of Judas, in the street that is called Straight, from the self-confident young fanatic who had left Jerusalem with the high priest’s letters in his bosom and fierce hate in his heart!

Ananias was probably not one of the fugitives, as his language about Saul implies that he knew of his doings only by hearsay. The report of Saul’s coming and authority to arrest disciples had reached Damascus before him, with the wonderful quickness with which news travels in the East, nobody knows how. Ananias’s fears being quieted, he went to the house where for three days Saul had been lying lonely in the dark, fasting, and revolving many things in his heart. No doubt his Lord had spoken many a word to him, though not by vision, but by whispering to his spirit. Silence and solitude root truth in a soul. After such a shock, absolute seclusion was best.

Ananias discharged his commission with lovely tenderness and power. How sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that ‘Brother Saul’ sound! How strong and grateful a confirmation of his vision would Ananias’s reference to the appearance of the Lord bring! How humbly would the proud Pharisee bow to receive, laid on his head, the hands that he had thought to bind with chains! What new eyes would look out on a world in which all things had become new, when there fell from them as it had been scales, and as quickly as had come the blinding, so quickly came the restored vision!

Ananias was neither Apostle nor official, yet the laying on of his hands communicated ‘the Holy Ghost.’ Saul received that gift before baptism, not after or through the ordinance. It was important for his future relations to the Apostles that he should not have been introduced to the Church by them, or owed to them his first human Christian teaching. Therefore he could say that he was ‘an Apostle, not from men, neither through man.’ It was important for us that in that great instance that divine gift should have been bestowed without the conditions accompanying, which have too often been regarded as necessary for, its possession.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 9:1-9

1Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” 7The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. 9And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Act 9:1 “Saul, still breathing threats and murder” This is literally “snorting.” In Act 26:11, Paul says of himself, that he was furiously enraged at them. Apparently Paul even killed some Christians (cf. Act 8:1).

“the disciples of the Lord” This term means learners. It only appears in the Gospels and Acts. This term is rapidly replaced by the term “saints.” Notice the number of terms used in this chapter to describe the people of God:

1. disciples, Act 9:1; Act 9:10; Act 9:19; Act 9:25-26; Act 9:36; Act 9:38

2. the Way, Act 9:2

3. saints, Act 9:13; Act 9:32; Act 9:41

4. brothers, Act 9:17.

“went to the high priest” This is obviously a reference to the Sanhedrin (cf. Act 26:10). See note on Sanhedrin at Act 4:5.

Act 9:2 “for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus” The Roman government had given limited authority to the Sanhedrin to conduct and control events in the synagogues or related to Jewish life in the Empire (cf. 1Ma 15:16-21 or Josephus, Antiq. 14.10.2). Judaism was a recognized, legal religion of the Greco-Roman world.

Apparently these were letters of extradition for the Jewish Christians who had fled Jerusalem in the face of the Jewish persecution (cf. Act 9:14; Act 9:21; Act 22:5; Act 26:10).

“if” This is a third class conditional sentence meaning potential action.

“The Way” This was the early designation for believers (cf. Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22 and possibly Act 18:25-26). It has an OT background, speaking of lifestyle faith (cf. Psa 1:1; Psa 16:11; Psa 119:105; Psa 139:24; Pro 4:10-19). Jesus uses this concept in Mat 7:14 and uses the title for Himself in Joh 14:6. Christianity is a personal encounter followed by a daily relationship.

“women” The mention of women three times amidst the groups that Paul persecuted is a way to show the intensity of Paul’s actions (cf. Act 8:3; Act 22:4). Luke has a special concern for women!

Act 9:3 “Damascus” This was an ancient city and capital of the Roman Province of Syria just north/northeast of Galilee. It was 150 miles from Jerusalem.

“and suddenly” This term also has the connotation of “unexpectedly.”

“a light from heaven” Paul relates his experience with this light differently in his three accounts of his experience in Acts

1. “a light from heaven flashed around him” (Act 9:3)

2. “a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me” (Act 22:6)

3. “I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me” (Act 26:13)

Paul vividly remembers this event! It is just possible that this light is theologically/physically related to the Shekinah glory of YHWH’s presence with Israel during the Wilderness Wandering Period. The Hebrew concept of “glory” takes on an aspect of bright light from this historical event (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GLORY (DOXA) at Act 3:13). This light would have showed Saul the rabbi that this was the personal presence of God.

Act 9:4 “heard a voice” This heavenly voice was something Judaism was familiar with. It is known as a bath kol. This provided a means for the Jews to receive information and/or confirmation from God (during the interbiblical period between the closing of Malachi [or Chronicles] and the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist). This form of revelation was necessary because there were no inspired prophets during this period.

“Saul, Saul” In Hebrew this repeating of the name was a way to show intensity.

“why are you persecuting Me” This is extremely significant theologically because it shows the continuity and intimacy between Jesus and His church (cf. Mat 10:40; Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45). Paul was persecuting the Church, but Jesus took it personally. From Act 26:14 we know that Jesus spoke to Paul in Aramaic.

It is also theologically significant that Christianity is both a person (Jesus) and a group (church). The corporate metaphors used in the NT for the church are:

1. body

2. family

3. building

4. saints

All emphasize the corporate nature of faith (cf. 1Co 12:7). It starts individually, but moves to the group (conscientiousness and concern). This individual corporality can be seen in Paul’s discussion of Adam and Christ in Rom 5:12-21. The One is part of the all; the One can affect the all (cf. Joshua 7).

Act 9:5 a “Who are You, Lord” What did Paul imply by the use of “Lord”?

1. sir, title of respect (ex. Joh 4:11)

2. YHWH, translated by Lord in the OT (ex. Gen 2:4)

If surprise is the focus, then possibly #1 applies, but if the light from heaven denotes an action of God, then #2 is the case. If #2, then suddenly Paul’s rabbinical theology is challenged. What a confusing and frightful time this must have been! See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY at Act 1:6.

Act 9:5-6 b These verses are not found in any early Greek manuscripts. They are found in only one Latin family of manuscripts. Erasmus, translating from the Vulgate, put them in his first edition of the Greek New Testament in 1516. These words are found in Act 26:14. Their inclusion here shows a tendency of scribes to make parallels uniform and full of all details.

Act 9:5 “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” Paul is claiming to have seen the Glorified Christ (cf. Act 22:14; 1Co 9:1; 1Co 15:8-9). Paul will later understand this experience as an integral part of his call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles.

The crucified carpenter from Nazareth is the glorified Messiah!

Act 9:6 This verse is explained in detail in Act 9:10-19.

“must do” See full note on dei at Act 1:16.

Act 9:7 “The men who traveled with him” This possibly refers to

1. the Temple police accompanying Paul

2. other Jewish zealots, probably from Hellenistic synagogues

3. other theological students from Jerusalem

“hearing the voice but seeing no one” There is a seeming discrepancy between Act 9:7; Act 22:9 in the details of this event. There have been several theories how to deal with it:

1. It is a matter of syntax. The verb “to hear” can take a genitive (Act 9:7) or an accusative (Act 22:9). These different forms have different implications or connotations. The NRSV, in a footnote, has “The Greek suggests that his companions heard the sound of the voice, but not the words spoken.”

2. Others say it is similar to Joh 12:29-30 about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the voice from heaven.

3. Others say that it is Paul’s voice that is being referred to, not Jesus’. They heard Paul speaking, but they did not hear Jesus speaking.

4. Others say this is similar to the Synoptic problem. Different Gospel writers record the same events, sermons, and actions of Jesus in differing ways, which is different eyewitness accounts.

Act 9:8 “though his eyes were open, he could see nothing” Paul apparently had eye problems from this point on (cf. Gal 4:13-15; Gal 6:11). I, personally, believe Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (cf. 2Co 12:7-10; Gal 4:13-15; Gal 6:11) was Oriental ophthalmia, possibly caused by this experience. There is irony here; Paul experiences a reorientation. He thought he could see (physically and spiritually, cf. John 9), but he found out that he was blind. After this encounter with Christ he was physically blinded for a period, but his spiritual eyes were wide open!

Act 9:9 “And he was three days without sight” This is a periphrastic imperfect. Some commentators see this as the occasion of Paul’s vision of heaven recorded in 2Co 12:1-4.

“and neither ate nor drank” Paul was fasting and praying (cf. Act 9:11). What a reorientation must have been occurring in Paul’s mind (theology) and heart (desire)! He was beginning the transformation from persecutor of the gospel to proclaimer of the gospel!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

And = But, or Now.

breathing out. Greek. empneo. Only here.

threatenings. Greek. apeile. See Act 4:17.

slaughter = murder. Greek. phonos. Occurs ten times. Always translates, murder, except here and Heb 11:37.

against. Greek. eis. App-104.

unto = to.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1-30.] CONVERSION OF SAUL.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

When Alexander the Great conquered the world, he left pockets of Greek culture throughout the world. So these pockets of Greek culture became very influential. And even though the Roman Empire conquered the Grecian Empire, yet the Grecian culture remained as a dominant characteristic throughout the world. So the world was under the Roman Empire, but it was dominated by Grecian culture.

Now the Grecian culture was more towards the arts, and in contrast, the Hebrew culture was very legalistic. The Pharisees were representatives of the Hebrew culture, very strict, very legalistic. They tended towards the legal side, whereas the Grecian was more cultural, more interested in the various forms of art and all. Thus, there was a real conflict in these cultures.

Now during this time, Israel was divided. The Jews were divided into the Hellenists and into the Hebrews. All Jews but the Sadducees were of the Hellenists culture. They were the materialists, whereas the Pharisees were followers of the Hebrew culture. Thus, for a man to effectively reach the Jewish people, he had to have an understanding of the Grecian culture, but he also needed a keen understanding of the Hebrew culture. So God chose Paul as that instrument.

Paul was born in the city of Tarsus, which was one of the centers of the Grecian culture. And up until the age of fourteen, though he was Hebrew of the Hebrews, that is his parents were of the Hebrew culture, very strong Pharisees, Paul’s earliest acquaintances, friends, playmates, were all of the Hellenist culture. So he became acquainted with the Hellenist culture. But his parents, in order to shield him from the Hellenist culture, when he was fourteen, rather than send him to university there in Asia Minor, chose rather to send him to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he might sit at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers of that day and a Pharisee.

So Paul became deeply imbued with the Pharisidic culture, yet he never did freely get totally free of that Grecian cultural background that he had as a child. Perfect instrument that God needed to go out into that world and to reach those of the Hellenist culture with the straight truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So beginning in chapter 9, we have God’s apprehension of Paul.

And Saul, still breathing out threatenings and murders against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way [an interesting description of the Christians], whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near to Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the goads ( Act 9:1-5 ).

Paul’s apprehension. He said, “I am not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended.” Here’s Paul’s apprehension by God in a very dramatic way. Here’s a man that God turns around 180 degrees. Yet there are indications in the text that God’s Spirit was already dealing with this man. As the Lord said unto him, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”

Now the goads were those instruments that they put on the front of the plow so that if the ox began to kick, it would kick the goads and it would determine the kicking wasn’t so wise. And, of course, it would help protect the fellow guiding the plow. It’s hard for you to kick against the goads.

I believe that the death of Stephen had a very remarkable effect upon Paul. I think that as he watched Stephen die, and Paul said, “I consented unto his death,” which means that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin and he voted for the death of Stephen as a member of the Sanhedrin. Which brings up some interesting sidelights. He had to be married to be a member of the Sanhedrin and whatever happened to his wife, the scripture is silent. There are stories that abound from the early church that she left him when he embraced Christianity, and that they had two sons; one went with Paul, one went with her. But that’s all tradition; we don’t know.

But I believe that watching Stephen die, hearing the message of Stephen . . . for Paul was there, heard his message, saw the face, saw the anointing of God’s Spirit, and yet, he was determined as a Pharisee to stamp out this new sect that was arising within Judaism. So he went to the high priest.

Later on, writing of his testimony to the Philippian church, he said, “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church” ( Php 3:6 ). And he came to Damascus, and suddenly God apprehended him there on the road. “Who art thou Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you persecuted. It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”

Now here’s an interesting thing. Paul was actually persecuting the church, wasn’t he? But notice how Jesus so completely identifies Himself with the church. Any persecution that you may receive is directed against Him. He is totally identified with His church. He didn’t say, you know, “Why do you persecute My church?” Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting Me? For it is, I am the One that you are persecuting.”

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt you have me to do? ( Act 9:6 )

Instant conversion, 180 degrees.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told you what you must do ( Act 9:6 ).

Now, the command of the Lord to Paul was very simple, wasn’t it? Remember last week we told you how God gives us one step at a time. So rather than spelling out to Paul at this time the whole future, he just said, “Just get up and go on into the city and it will be told you what you are to do.”

And so the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man ( Act 9:7 ).

Now there are those who imagine a contradiction in the scripture here. Because as Paul is recounting this story in the twenty-second chapter of Acts, he declares that those that were with him did not hear the voice, but he uses a different Greek word there–they did not hear the articulation of the words. They heard sounds, but they didn’t understand the sounds. And so the Lord was speaking to Saul. They heard a voice speaking, but they could not understand the words, and that’s what Paul is referring to in the twenty-second chapter; they did not hear the pheone, the phonetics. And so, no contradiction. They stood speechless because they heard a voice, but they didn’t see anybody.

And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man ( Act 9:8 ):

So he was blinded momentarily by this experience.

but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus ( Act 9:8 ).

Now his entry into Damascus was surely far different than what Paul was imagining his entry to be into Damascus. He was going to come in charging in with the papers from the high priest and start throwing people in prison who called upon the name of the Lord. But rather than coming in this manner, he is being led in blinded and being led by his friends into the city.

And for three days he was without sight, and neither did eat nor drink ( Act 9:9 ).

I believe that in these three days there must have been an awful lot going on in Paul’s mind. God sort of cut him off from other distractions, sensory distractions that He might really help him into trying to filter out exactly what was going on. So he was without sight. He did not eat or drink for three days as he was just sifting through these happenings that were taking place in his life.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus [now notice not an apostle, just a disciple], and his name was Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered and said, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all those that are calling on your name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel ( Act 9:10-15 ):

So God needed a man with the background of Paul, a man who could address the Hebrews, a man who could address the Grecian culture, a man who could address kings. So he is a chosen vessel of God. So Paul, later on, recognized that God’s hand was upon his life from his mother’s womb, that even in the early experiences, God’s hand was upon him, training him, developing him for that work that God ultimately had in mind for him to accomplish.

And so with every servant of God. We can look back in our lives and watch the processes by which God was developing us for the work that God had in mind for us to accomplish for Him. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, said, “For you are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that you should walk in them” ( Eph 2:10 ). God knows what He has in mind for your life. God knows that ministry or that work that He has in mind for you to fulfill for the kingdom’s sake.

Now God in the meantime is working in your life as He is preparing you for that work. And one day you will discover that all of this background that I have is all a part of God’s plan as he was preparing that instrument to do His work. And it’s exciting then to realize that even at times when I wasn’t aware of God, wasn’t conscious of God, yet God was there working in my life, preparing my life for the work that God had in mind for me to accomplish. A chosen vessel. “And he is to bear My name before the Gentiles, the kings, and the children of Israel.” And here, to me, is an interesting statement,

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake ( Act 9:16 ).

I wonder if I had been in his shoes and the Lord would call me to the ministry and show me in advance all of the things that I would have to suffer, if I would have continued or would have bowed out and said, “Lord, why don’t You send someone else. Why don’t You call someone else.” I admire Paul. The Lord showed him all of the things he was going to suffer, and yet Paul was ready. He was yielding his life when he said, “Who art thou Lord that I may serve Thee? What will You have me to do Lord?” There wasn’t any changing from that. He made a contract with the Lord, a binding contract, one that he wasn’t going to go back on, because he realized that God’s hand was upon his life to develop him to this point, and no matter what, Lord, I’m going to go through.

And Ananias went his way ( Act 9:17 ),

When God first told Ananias to talk to Saul, he was sure that God had made a terrible mistake. “Lord, I’ve heard about this fellow. You can’t be serious.” So Ananias went his way,

and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul ( Act 9:17 ),

I like that; he immediately acknowledges him as a brother. He receives him immediately into that fellowship of the brotherhood in Christ, “Brother Saul.”

the Lord, even Jesus ( Act 9:17 ),

Now you remember, he said, “Who art thou Lord?” and He said, “I am Jesus whom you persecuted.” So here Ananias is saying, “The Lord, even Jesus.”

who appeared unto you in the way as you were coming, has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit ( Act 9:17 ).

Remember Ananias is not an apostle; he’s only a disciple. There in the church in Damascus, of which we hear nothing more about him after this time. Just an ordinary disciple, and yet God is using him as the instrument to lay his hands upon Paul that he might be healed, receive his sight, and that he might receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight immediately, and he arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus. And immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God ( Act 9:18-20 ).

Now, Paul had enough background in the scriptures that as soon as he realized that Jesus was Lord, he was able to take his understanding of the scriptures and realize that God had promised to send His Son. He realized according to the prophecy of Isaiah that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is “God with us.” “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father” ( Isa 9:6 ). And all of these scriptures began to click in Paul’s mind, and he was able to see now that Jesus was the Son of God. And so he began to go in the synagogue, and he began to preach unto the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God.

But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this the one that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and did he not come here with that same intent, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? ( Act 9:21 )

And they were amazed at Paul’s preaching. Now between verse Act 9:21 and verse Act 9:22 , there is a gap of time that isn’t indicated in our text. But at this point according to the Galatian epistle, Paul left Damascus, not conferring with flesh, but to really just wait upon God and to really get his full instructions. He went down to the wilderness area of the Sinai, and there for two to three years he was just waiting upon the Lord, being instructed by the Lord concerning the way of truth in Jesus Christ.

So Paul writing to the Galatians said that after his conversion, “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia” ( Gal 1:16-17 ). And there was taught directly by Jesus, the Gospel, the doctrine that he proclaimed.

Then later, he said, “I returned to Damascus.” “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days” ( Gal 1:18 ). But not to be instructed by him, but just to share the things that had happened. So the three years in Arabia down near the Sinai are not spoken of in the Acts, but just passed over and the . . . if you want to put them in the text, it’s between verse Act 9:21-22 is Paul’s journey to the desert for three years.

But Saul increased the more in strength ( Act 9:22 ),

Now in verse Act 9:22 , Saul by this time increased all the more in strength. That three years was a time of strengthening in his life as he was just waiting upon the Lord.

I get a little concerned about those who come up and say, “Chuck, I want to go into the ministry.” And I say, “Well, that’s fine. How long have you been a Christian?” “Oh, two months now.” And they’re looking for a pulpit and somewhere to begin their pastoring. Paul had a very rich background in the scriptures, yet he did not enter immediately in the ministry but took time to prepare himself as he was there in Arabia for three years being taught of the Lord.

God uses instruments that he has prepared, but preparation is a necessary part to any affective ministry. I believe there is a great mistake that takes place in the church by laying hands on people too suddenly. I think that a tragedy has existed for years within the church whenever some Hollywood celebrity makes a profession of faith. Immediately they are bombarded by every church and every conference to come and to be a conference speaker. And they’re going around constantly giving their testimony week after week after week, here and there giving their testimony to excited crowds around the United States.

Well, unfortunately, they’re spending so much time traveling around the country to give their testimony to the crowds, the only thing that they ever hear is their own testimony! Thus, they are never rooted and grounded in the Word. They never get a foundation. And so many of these great celebrities who have gone around with their sparkling testimonies, after a period of time you say, “Well, what happened to…” “Well he’s back into the old life. It didn’t last.” It’s because the church has made a tragic mistake of assuming that because a person is a brilliant person in one field that he can immediately be a great theologian or a teacher of the Word.

That is a wrong assumption to make. There have been some very brilliant scientists who have accepted the Lord, and, of course, immediately everyone wants them to come and testify of their conversion experience. Well, you might be a genius in biology, but that doesn’t mean that you know anything about the Word of God. And so Paul needed to get a foundation established, and thus he went to Arabia, and that is just a wise move for anybody. Don’t be in a hurry. Make sure that you’ve dug deep and laid a foundation.

Jesus talked about the two men building their houses. The wise man dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. The foolish man just began to build immediately on the sand. And unfortunately that’s what a lot of people do. They want to get things going. “Let’s get the building up; let’s start the framing, you know.” And they haven’t taken the time to lay a solid foundation. And when the storm comes, the house is destroyed. So take time, lay a foundation. If God is calling you, God is not in a hurry. We are the ones that are in a hurry, and God wants to prepare those instruments that He will use for His work.

And so while he was there in the wilderness, he increased the more in strength as he came back to Damascus after this three years, he was now a real dynamo for God.

and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the very Christ ( Act 9:22 ).

Again, he had his rich background in their scriptures and he could take their scriptures and by them prove that Jesus is the Messiah. Now that’s not a difficult task; it’s very simple to take the Old Testament scriptures and to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. But there are none so blind as those who will not see.

And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him ( Act 9:23 ):

Though he proved that Jesus was the Messiah, it only angered them. And so they began to lay in wait for him. But it was told to Saul that they were ready to ambush him, going to kill him.

But they were watching the gates of the city of Damascus day and night ready to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket ( Act 9:24-25 ).

So he didn’t have a very triumphant exodus out of Damascus. A rather ignominious way to leave, over the wall in the basket, escaping from those Jews who were plotting his death. And so it was at this point he came to Jerusalem and first met the apostles.

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join with the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and they believed not that he was a disciple ( Act 9:26 ).

And this is a tragic thing, how that he was rejected by the church when he first returned to Jerusalem.

But Barnabas ( Act 9:27 )

Now you remember this man Barnabas. It said that he had a different name, but they called him Barnabas, which means “son of consolation”. And here you see why he got his name. Barnabas is a fellow to bring men together.

But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Hellenists: but they went about to kill him ( Act 9:27-29 ).

Paul’s ministry seemed to have that effect upon people. Everywhere he preached, it ended in either a revival or a riot. And people were moved by what he said one way or another, some adversely and some in a favorable way. But Paul had a way of stirring people.

Now when the brethren knew ( Act 9:30 ),

That they were planning to kill Paul in Jerusalem. What a way to start your ministry. The first two places you have to leave town quietly because there are those who are plotting against your life.

So when the brethren knew [the plot], they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus ( Act 9:30 ).

Go back home, Paul! And so they sent him back to Tarsus.

Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria ( Act 9:31 ),

I don’t know if that rest was too healthy. They got rid of Paul. Well, it meant that their witness wasn’t as bold as it was. They began to live more peaceably with those, and I don’t know if that is a sign of a healthy church or not. Now Paul stayed at Tarsus for up to ten years. Just how long, we are not certain, but most scholars believe that his going back to Tarsus, he remained in obscurity for ten years more. No doubt they were times in which God was continually pouring into Paul the knowledge of the grace and the goodness of God. But they were silent years as far as Paul’s ministry is concerned. The churches had rest throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria,

and were edified; as they walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied ( Act 9:31 ).

Now we leave Paul at this point and the record goes back now to Peter.

And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda ( Act 9:32 ).

So at this point, Peter decided to go around and to visit the various pockets of believers that had sprung up throughout Judea. And over towards the coast, the area of Lydda, which is the present city of Lot, where the Ben Gurion airport is, is the area where Peter went to visit the Christians there.

And there he found a certain man named Eneas, which had been in his bed [had been confined to the bed for] eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ makes you whole: arise, and make your bed. And he arose immediately. And all of those that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord ( Act 9:33-35 ).

Peter spoke to him the word of faith and there is power in the spoken word of faith. It’s important that we find the balance. There are those who take this teaching and they carry it to extremes, as they would elevate man to the position of sovereignty, “You can have anything you want, all you have to do is to speak it.” And they speak of the rhema, the spoken word and the creative power of the spoken word, and so you speak by faith whatever you want. “I want to be a millionaire. I want to drive a Mercedes. I want to have a home on Lido Island. I want…”

And they tell you to speak the words of faith. Visualize what you desire. Visualize yourself driving that little Porsche. See yourself scooting in and out of traffic, visualize it! And then, you know, you’re putting these creative forces to work. You can have whatever you want. Did not God say, command ye the works of My hands? And they talk about speaking the word of faith and the visualizing of the things that you want.

This is metaphysics. You find the same things in Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich, or The Thirteen Richest Men in Babylon. It’s a part of metaphysics and it is something that there is creative power in the subconscious. And so by visualizing and by putting up your goals and by declaring your goals over and over, you’re planting these things in the area of the subconscious and the subconscious then begins then to develop schemes and devise methods whereby these things might become a reality and you’re using the vast powers of the subconscious.

Of course, the spiritual writers will say you’re using the vast powers of the spirit, the fourth dimension, and you’re putting that power to work. But it works without the spirit; it works for men of the world who want to follow these principles. And you’ll find many, many men who will testify that their tremendous success in business and all is attributable to Napoleon Hill’s concepts in metaphysics in Think and Grow Rich. The same principles exactly.

Now, because of that, there is a tendency for us to have a backlash against that. Because it is such dangerous heresy, we are prone to back away, and that’s wrong. But we’re prone to back away from what God is wanting to do, from stepping out in faith and from declaring a word of faith. Now I am certain that before Peter said this to Eneas that the Lord spoke to Peter’s heart to say it.

You remember when Paul was at Lystra, he perceived that this lame man over here had the faith to be healed, and he said, “Brother, Jesus Christ makes you whole. Stand up and walk.” And the man who was lame for forty years stood up and walked because Paul spoke the word of faith to him. But before Paul spoke the word of faith, the Spirit had already revealed to Paul what the Spirit was wanting to do.

I do not direct the works of God, nor should I ever seek to be in that position of directing God’s works. They are God’s works; they always begin with Him. It is important that I recognize what God is doing. It is important that I recognize the work of God. And herein is the real key. And so yes, there may be times when the Lord would have us to speak a word of faith to someone and have them act upon that word of faith.

Jesus often did that. Be strong! And I’d like to speak that word of faith to you tonight. Be delivered! Be set free! Live a life of victory in Jesus! Now you can take those as words of faith and say, “Yes, Lord, I will be strong. Yes, Lord, I will have victory. Yes, Lord, I will stop it.” And they can be a word of faith that you will act upon and you will find victory, you’ll find strength, you’ll find God working in a dynamic way within your life. The work of God will be done and the word of faith is important.

It’s wrong, though, to carry it to the extremes that these men carry it to today. So there’s a balance. And so often, because were are striking out against some of the fanaticism, that oftentimes accompanies these things, people will then say, “Oh, Chuck said that’s wrong, you shouldn’t do that,” but yet there is the balance there and it is important that we maintain the balance. Yes, God does work today. Yes, God will work today. Yes, there is power through faith. Yes, we can see the work of God accomplished in the lives of people, and yes, we can speak the word of faith to them.

And it’s important that we do, but it’s also important that we don’t become extremists and just go around and try to run the universe. Like, suddenly I’ve found a new dimension of power and now I’m in control and now this is the way I want things done and God, over there, quick! And I take away from that sovereignty and that sovereign work of God by, I’m in command now and I’m going to demand what’s going on. It’s so easy to get on power trips, and you’ve got to be careful about that because there’s something within us that likes power. And I like to feel that sense of power, and it’s so easy to get exalted on a power trip.

I was reading where the god Thor, that north god, when he first discovered his power was so excited. He just jumped on his horse and he began to ride across the skies on his horse pointing down at the earth, because as he pointed, he could cause the lightning to come off the edge of his finger and flash across the earth. And he’s discovered this great power he had of casting these thunderbolts and these flashes of lightning. So he was just riding all over the earth, throwing down the thunderbolts, causing the flashes of lightning. He spent the whole day riding his horse through the skies throwing his thunderbolts all over the world. As he got back to the north country, with this sense of power, he cried, “I’m Thor!” and his horse turned around and said, “Well, why didn’t you use a saddle, silly!” So be careful of the power trips.

Peter did speak the word of faith, and we can speak the word of faith and we can see the power of speaking the word of faith. There is a legitimate concept here that we can use; we just shouldn’t take it to extremes. So as the result of the healing of Eneas, people all over the area, the Sharon valley there, in seeing this man who had been informed for eight years, healed, they believed and turned to the Lord.

Now in Joppa [about eight miles away from Lydda] there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas ( Act 9:36 ):

The name means a gazelle, graceful, beautiful.

this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and she died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And inasmuch as Lydda was near to Joppa [only eight miles], and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them ( Act 9:36-39 ).

So here she was making things for the poor, a very marvelous, beautiful woman.

But Peter put them all foRuth ( Act 9:40 ),

He probably took a page out of the life of Jesus, for he was there when Jairus had come to Jesus concerning his daughter. And as Jesus was on His way to Jairus’ house, the servants came and said, “Don’t trouble the master any further; your daughter is dead.” And so Jesus said to him, “Don’t be afraid, don’t panic; she’s only sleeping.” And so when they came to the house, all of the mourners were already gathered and they were wailing and mourning over the death of this little twelve-year-old girl, the daughter of Jairus. And Jesus said, “She’s not dead; she’s only asleep.” And they laughed Him to scorn; they mocked Him. And so He put them all forth, He said, “Get out.” And he brought in Peter and John, the inner circle. Then He said unto her, “Talitha, little girl, arise.” And she sat up and looked around, and Jesus took her by the hand and led her out to the parents and said, “You might give her something to eat.”

But Peter had seen the Lord put away those of unbelief and doubt. And so Peter, because these people were all just, though they were perhaps Christians, they were yet just all into the mourning over her death. “Look at the beautiful things she made. Oh, she was such a wonderful person and all.” Peter just put them forth. Probably also, what he was going to do was so bizarre, that in case nothing happened, he didn’t want to be embarrassed. I would have done that.

So Peter put them all forth, and he kneeled down, and prayed; and turning to the body said, Tabitha, come ( Act 9:40 ).

Now he called her by her name Tabitha, and notice how close it is to what Jesus called the little girl, Talitha. Tabitha, come, arise. Now he’s talking to a dead person, a corpse that is there. And that is rather bizarre talking to a corpse. But he knelt down and prayed, and then he turned and said, “Tabitha, arise.”

And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. And it was known throughout all of Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon the tanner ( Act 9:40-43 ).

Now we are reminded of the words of Jesus in the fourteenth chapter of the gospel of John, when He said to His disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” ( Joh 14:12-14 ).

So here’s Peter doing the same kind of works that Jesus did. And here is a notable, remarkable miracle of the raising from the dead of this blessed saint there in the church in Joppa, Dorcas, who God brought back from death. So we see the power still existing there in the early church. And that is, of course, one of the marks of the early church, that dynamic power of the Holy Spirit working in and through the church.

Should we assume that God no longer works in such dynamic ways? I think that it is wrong to make that assumption. I think that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I do not believe that we should fault God for the lack of power in the church. I think that we should fault the church, fault ourselves. I believe that this power is still available today. I believe in the power of God to change lives, to transform lives, to turn people around 180 degrees. I believe in the power of God to raise people out of beds of infirmity, to deliver people from the bondage of things that are destroying them, setting people free. I believe in the power of God to raise the dead. I do not believe that there is any lack with God or with God’s ability, or even with God’s desire to manifest Himself.

I do feel that the lack is on our side, and I think that as much as anything else, it is the lack of being able to handle all of the notoriety and attention that would be drawn to the person who had this kind of power. I am certain that I could not personally deal with that kind of power and notoriety that would rise from it. I do not trust myself. I’m afraid that I would be lifted up with pride. I’m afraid that I would go out advertising great miracle campaigns and would just not be able to really handle all that would result from having that kind of a ministry.

Now there were years when I fasted and prayed for this kind of power. And I desired to experience this kind of power, and the Lord finally spoke to my heart and said, “I have given you the more excellent way. The path of love.” And I ceased praying for the power of miracles. Now, I have seen miracles and who can doubt but what the power of God in changing a person’s life, turning them around, is not really the most desirable and greatest miracle that we can see. It would be much better that a person’s life be transformed by the power of the Spirit of God from the bondage of sin into a new life in Christ. That is a more important miracle than say, raising the dead, if that person, when he was raised from the dead, would live a wicked life and die in sin. Or if through that miracle you would be lifted up with so much pride that you would become useless to God.

So God’s hand is not short, but we just see today more sham than reality in the miracle services. And those who are professing to have the power are men that I wouldn’t trust, many times, behind my back. I know them. Now that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek or desire it still. I don’t desire it for myself anymore because God spoke to me about it. But that doesn’t mean that maybe God has so worked in your life that He could use you in this way. And if so, I would praise God for it and I would rejoice in the work that God would do through your life. I don’t want to be in the position of limiting God and I don’t think that should ever be our position. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Now I’m not going to try to get into chapter 10, because there’s so much here that we want to cover. It’s quite a long chapter and it is an important chapter as it deals with the beginning of the Gospel among the Gentiles. So we’ll begin this a week from Sunday night, chapters 10 and 11. Shall we pray.

Father, we thank You tonight for the power of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray for true demonstrations of that power. Touch lives, anoint lives, and use them, Father, to display Your glory through the world. Lord, we offer ourselves to You such as we are tonight. As Paul, we would ask, what would You have us to do, Lord? And we make ourselves available unto You for whatever You might have in mind. Whatever purpose You would have us to fulfill. Lord, You’ve apprehended us, and when You did, You had in mind a purpose for apprehending us. Help us, Lord, that we might seek to accomplish and to apprehend that for which were apprehended. So guide us, use us, and through us, Lord, bring glory to Thy name and we thank You. Amen. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Act 9:1-2. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

His very breath was hot with malice against the saints, he could not live without venting his spite upon the disciples of Christ. He showed this by the fact that he not only sought to arrest men, but he was equally cruel towards women, who, from their weakness, one would have thought might have been let alone but he expressly desired it to be written in the letters that, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Act 9:3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

When speaking before Agrippa, Paul said that it was a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Was it not that very Shekinah which of old had shone forth between the cherubim over the mercy-seat?

Act 9:4-5. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

There is something very characteristic about Christs answer to Sauls question. He did not say, It is hard for me; although he was himself persecuted in his members, and felt intense sympathy with them, he did not dwell upon that; but he said to Saul, It is hard for thee. There was much pity in the rebuke. Saul was like a bullock that has been pricked by the sharp ox-goad, and that kicks against it, and so is hurt all the more. Our Lord knew what sorrow it would cause Saul in the years to come, for he would never cease to lament that he had persecuted the disciples of Christ.

Act 9:6. And he trembling and astonished

Finding that Jesus, whom he thought to be dead and buried, and those followers he was so violently opposing, was yet alive,

Act 9:6-8. Said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no men: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

So the proud persecutor, who was going to Damascus as a conqueror to crush the saints of God, was himself led into the city as a captive, to be for ever afterwards the slave of Jesus Christ.

Act 9:9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

What passed through that mind, which was darkened to natural light, but was being filled with spiritual light, we can well guess; I mean, those of us who have experienced true conviction of sin. In those three days, he lived over again his life of opposition to the Lord Jesus; what heart-break he must have felt, and what anguish of soul, and what holy resolves he must have made during his three days blindness and fasting!

Act 9:10-11. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

He had been a praying man for most of his life, for he was a devout Jew and according to his light he had lived up to his knowledge. But now he was praying in the Christian sense of the term, drawing near to God through the very Christ whom he had in his ignorance and unbelief persecuted. How many prayers of unregenerate men, who know not Christ, and are not constrained by his love, go for nothing! When they first from the heart confess their sin, and cry to God for mercy, then they begin really to pray.

Act 9:12-16. And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake.

Ananias said to the Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and now the Lord says to Ananias, in response to that, I will show him how great things he must suffer for my names sake. As he had made others suffer for Christs names sake, he must himself suffer in the same way; yet in this he was greatly favored, for it is one of the highest honours that the Lord Jesus Christ can put upon his chosen ones that they should be called to suffer for his names sake.

Act 9:17; Act 9:21. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed,

I should like to have heard one of those first sermons of the apostle, and to have seen the astonishment of the people as they listened to the converted persecutor: All that heard him were amazed,

Act 9:21-22. And said; is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

This exposition consisted of readings from Act 9:1-22; and Act 22:1-16.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Act 9:1. , as yet) Thus it was when his vehement ardour in sinning had reached its height, that he was rescued and converted. Comp. ch. Act 22:3, etc., Act 26:4, etc., 11. For Luke puts off until then, as is the wont of Scripture, the narration of many details concerning the whole matter, and concerning the words of Ananias (Act 22:12-16).- , unto the High Priest) His authority influenced the Jews even at Damascus: Act 9:14.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Act 9:1-19

CONVERSION OF SAUL

Act 9:1-19

1 But Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter-Saul was first mentioned in Act 7:58, and again in Act 8:1-3; now we come to his conversion. There we find him as a persistent persecutor of the church; here we find him yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. His attitude and conduct is put in contrast to that of Philip by the conjunction but. Some translations have and, but others seem to translate eti as yet, as if some time had elapsed between the death of Stephen and the events that we are now to consider. Breathing threatening and slaughter does not mean breathing out, but breathing in or breathing on. It means that the very breath that Saul breathed encouraged him on to persecute the disciples of Christ. The figure is like a war horse who sniffs the smell of battle; he becomes anxious to persecute Christians. We are not told of any other death than that of Stephen, but we are led to believe that many others were put to death. Surely Sauls anger was greatly excited by the success of the early church, and with great zeal he put forth every effort possible to stop the progress of the church. He was orderly about what he was doing, as he had the authority of the high priest.

2 and asked of him letters to Damascus-It is probable that the high priest here mentioned was Caiaphas, who was a chief of the Jews and exercised authority in such matters. Letters to Damascus means that Saul was granted authority to persecute Christians along the way and in the city of Damascus. Saul, a Pharisee, makes request of a Sadducee (the high priest) to persecute the disciples of Christ. Julius Caesar and Augustus had granted the high priest and Sanhedrin jurisdiction over Jews in foreign cities; so later Paul said that he received his authority to go to Damascus from the priests (Act 26:10) and the estate of the elders (Act 22:5); that is, the Sanhedrin. It seems that Paul had finished his persecution in Jerusalem and now wishes to extend it beyond to Damascus. Damascus is said to be the oldest city in the world; it was about a hundred and fifty miles northeast from Jerusalem and watered by the river Abana. A great number of Jews dwelt in this city; it seems that Christians had found refuge from Sauls persecution in Judea and had gone to Damascus. Pauls language in Act 26:11 seems to imply that Damascus is merely one of the other foreign cities to which he carried the persecution. The Way is frequently used by Luke to describe Christianity as the Way of life. (Act 19:9 Act 19:23 Act 22:4 Act 24:14 Act 24:22.) Luke also speaks of the way of salvation (Act 16:17) and the way of the Lord (Act 18:25). Jesus called himself the way (Joh 14:6), the only way to the Father. Paul had authority to arrest both men and women and bring them to Jerusalem to be tried before the Sanhedrin.

3-4 And as he journeyed, it came to pass-We are not told what mode of travel Paul used in making this journey to Damascus. He probably used the best mode that could be had at hand, which was horseback, or on a camel or ass or mule, or in a chariot ; he would make the journey by land. There were two roads by which Saul could make his journey-one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damascus, and kept near the coast line of Palestine till it struck eastward to cross the Jordan at the north point of the Sea of Galilee; to connect with this road Saul would have had first to go westward from Jerusalem to the sea. The other road led through Neapolis and crossed the Jordan south of the Sea of Galilee, and passed through Gadara and on northeastward to Damascus. We do not know which road Saul traveled. As he drew nigh unto Damascus there suddenly shone round about him a light out of heaven. In Act 22:6 we are told that the time of day was about noon when the vision was seen, and in Act 26:13 Paul says that at midday the light was above the brightness of the sun. The midday glare of the sun in that country was exceedingly bright, yet the glory of Christ as seen by Paul far surpassed the glory of the sun. Paul, smitten with blindness, fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? This voice was clear and distinct to him, but seems to have been a mysterious sound to others; the voice spoke in the Hebrew tongue. (Act 26:14.) In all three of the ac-counts given by Luke he uses the transliteration of the Hebrew way of spelling Saul, Saoul, while in every other case the Greek form Saulos is used. The disciples of Christ are one with him. (Mat 10:40 Mat 25:40 Mat 25:45; Luk 10:16; Joh 15:1-5.) Hence, to persecute Christians was to persecute Christ; Saul thought that he was persecuting the disciples of an impostor who had been crucified as a malefactor. He now is to see that he was persecuting the Messiah by persecuting his disciples.

5, 6 And he said, Who art thou, Lord?-Lord is here used in reverence and in response to the question; this title could not have been used at this moment in all the fullness of its meaning. It seems to mean: Whose voice do I hear ? The response came at once: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. In Act 22:8 Paul gives the fuller form of the sentence: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. By using this name Saul could gain a direct knowledge of the voice that was speaking to him, and know that he was persecuting Christ in persecuting his disciples. The voice is very specific, denoting definitely and accurately just what Saul was doing in persecuting Christians; it carried a conviction as well as preferring a charge. This voice told him that he should go into the city and there he would be instructed as to what thou must do. In Act 26:16-18 we have what Ananias told Saul. The Authorized Version adds it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks; that is, it is hard to kick against the pricks or goads used to spur an ox.

7 And the men that journeyed with him-We are not told how large a company Saul had with him; hence, there is no use to guess at the number. Stood speechless simply means that they came to a stop; in Act 26:14 they are described as all fallen to the earth, but there is no contradiction here. Speechless means they were mute. Those that were with Paul heard the voice, but beholding no man, but in Act 22:9 we have the statement but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. There is no contradiction here. They heard the voice, but did not understand what it said; hence, in that sense they did not hear the voice. Those with Paul heard the sound, but did not understand the words; they saw the light, but did not see the form of the Christ; they had fallen to the ground and remained motionless.

8 And Saul arose from the earth;-When Saul, who had fallen to the earth with the others, arose his eyes were opened, but he saw nothing. Some translations say he saw no man. His eyes were open, but he did not have the power to discern or see clearly objects that were before him. He was led by the hand, and brought into Damascus. Saul at this time presents a sad and pathetic picture; Saul, the persecutor, clothed with authority from the Sanhedrin, now becomes the convicted, blind, and helpless one, and has to be led with the authority with which he was clothed, in this helpless condition, into the city of Damascus to wait for fur-ther instruction.

9 And he was three days without sight,-In his helpless condition Saul the persecutor is led into Damascus. He has now reached his destination; he had left Jerusalem to go to Damascus. Little did he think that he would enter Damascus in such a helpless and humbled condition. He began praying, and for three days he was without sight, and did neither eat nor drink. Verse 11 tells us that he was praying. The mental anguish for a time overpowered the natural craving for food.

10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus,-This disciple was named Ananias; it was a common name among the Jews, and is to be thought of as meaning Jehovah is gracious. This Ananias had the respect of both Jews and Christians in Damascus (Acts 22 Acts 12); he was a devout man according to the law, and well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there. Here he is described as a certain disciple; the disciple that bap-tized Saul was no high dignitary in the church; he was just a certain disciple.

11 And the Lord said unto him,-We do not know when or how Ananias became a disciple; he may have been one of those converted on Pentecost; the Lord spoke to him in a vision; he was told to go to the street which is called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for Saul; he was further instructed that Saul was praying. This street was called Straight, and is said to extend in a direct line from east to west, and was a mile long. Ananias received from the Lord in the vision direct and accurate information so that he could locate Saul without delay. Ananias was ready to render service in the name of the Lord; we do not have him mentioned anywhere else except in Act 22:12, which is in connection with the conversion of Saul. Nothing is further known about Judas where Saul was sojourning; he may have been one of the Christians, or he may have been one to whom Paul had letters. We are not told for what he was praying; probably he was praying for his sight and for more light in a spiritual way.

12 and he hath seen a man named Ananias-The Lord in this vision told Ananias where to find Saul, and also told him that Saul had seen a man named Ananias coming in, and that he would lay his hands on him that he might receive his sight. It seems that there had been two simultaneous visions-Saul had received one and Ananias the other. Ananias was now told just what he should say and do to Saul. In Act 22:13-16 Saul is told what he should do; he received his sight at that time, and was informed that he should become a witness for Christ and should suffer many things for him. He was told to arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.

13-14 But Ananias answered, Lord,-Ananias hesitated because he had heard from many of this man; he had heard of the bitter persecution that Saul had waged against thy saints at Jerusalem ; he had also heard of Sauls authority from the chief priests to persecute Christians in Damascus. Here we learn that the disciples were called saints; that is, sanctified ones, early in the history of the church. Paul frequently uses this word and applies it to Christians. This is the first time that the word is used and applied to Christians; Saul was deeply impressed with this word and addressed at least six of his epistles to those who were called saints. Saints mean the same as those who call upon thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way:-Ananias is assured of the vision and its meaning, and is commanded to obey it. The instruction is that Saul was to be a chosen vessel unto the Lord, and that he was to bear his name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel. Here Saul is said to perform the task of being a witness for Christ to three classes-namely, Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Chosen vessel simply means a vessel of choice or selection; Jesus chose Saul before Saul had chosen Jesus as his Lord. He makes Saul an earthen vessel (2Co 4:7), an unworthy vessel for so great a treasure. His chief work was to be among the Gentiles. (Gal 2:8; Eph 3:6-12.) Saul fulfilled this commission in going before kings when he appeared before Agrippa at Caesarea (Act 26:1-32); perhaps he went before Emperor Nero at Rome, and pleaded his cause before the tribunals of the Roman governors, Sergius Paulus, Gallio, Felix, and Festus (2Ti 4:16-17).

16 for I will show him how many things he must suffer- Saul had made others suffer for Christ; he had persecuted them even unto death; now he is to suffer more than he has caused others to suffer. He said in his address to the elders of the church at Ephesus that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. (Act 20:23.) In writing to the church at Corinth later Paul gave a long list of persecutions and sufferings which he had endured for Christ. (2Co 6:4-10 2Co 11:23-28.)

17 And Ananias departed, and entered-Ananias now was convinced that he would obey the vision, and he at once departed to find the man who needed his services. He entered into the house and placed his hands on Saul and said: Brother Saul, the Lord who appeared to you on the way has sent me to you that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ananias addressed him as brother; whether this was because of the Jewish relation, or because of their relation in Christ is not made clear; it has been the occasion of much discussion. This comes about by not knowing at what point Saul was converted. Saul was not converted until he was baptized into Christ; forgiveness of sins, with Saul, took place after his obedience to the gospel, just as it did with all others. Paul says that he and others were baptized into Christ. (Rom 6:3-4.) Hence, as Paul had not been baptized into Christ when Ananias first addressed him, he must have addressed him as a fellow member of the Jewish family.

18-19 And straightway there fell from his eyes-Immediately when Ananias came to Saul and placed his hands upon him, Saul received his sight. His vision came to him suddenly as if scales had fallen from his eyes. The original for scales is lepides, and comes from the verb lepo, which means to peel. Luke does not say that actual scales fell from the eyes of Saul, but that it felt that way to him as his sight was restored to him. Saul arose and was baptized; it seems that he was baptized by Ananias (Act 22:16), and his sins were forgiven, and he could claim promises of salvation through faith in Christ. Some think that this left a permanent defect in Pauls eyes; however, there is no direct evidence of it. Saul at once took food and was strengthened. He had been fasting for three days, and now since he has been refreshed in soul, he is also refreshed in body. He remained with the disciples in Damascus for certain days; we do not know how long he remained there; it is probable that he spent these days in private devotion and in private intercourse with the disciples. Certain days is a phrase used by Luke to mean a short space of time. (Act 10:48 Act 15:36 Act 16:12 Act 24:24 Act 25:13.)

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Opposition, the leader of which seems to have been Saul, continued. Armed with letters from the high priest, he attempted to put an end to the Nazarene heresy. It was on his journey with this intent that he was arrested by Christ. The action of Ananias stands out as a revelation of a man ready for his Lord’s command, and carrying it out without any hesitation and with all brotherly love.

How important was the apprehension of Saul is evident at once. He completely devoted himself to the service of his new Lord. This change of attitude in the man necessarily issued in a change of attitude toward him. The persecutor became the persecuted. When, after a lapse of time, Paul came to Jerusalem, the Christian disciples were afraid of him, but Barnabas stood by him.

At this point the book returns to Peter. Two incidents are recorded, one at Lydda, where Eneas was healed; the other at Joppa, where Dorcas was raised from the dead. This paragraph ends with a significant announcement. Peter abode many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner. The calling of the tanner was absolutely repugnant to the Jew, and the fact that Peter was willing to tarry in his house is a sign that in spirit he was already learning the lesson of how mere national exclusivism was at an end in the economy of Christ.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Winning a Persecutor

Act 9:1-9

A year had passed since Act 8:3. The Way had become the accepted phrase for the infant Church and its presentation of the truth, Act 19:9; Act 22:4. It may refer to the course of life the Christians pursued, or to their method of getting right with God-not by the deeds of the Law, but by their faith in Christ, Rom 10:5-10. Compare with this narrative Act 26:13; Act 22:6. Sauls companions saw the light and heard a noise, but did not see the Lord or distinguish what was said.

Mark how the Lord Jesus identifies Himself with His suffering ones. Their sufferings are His, Act 9:5. To hurt them is to hurt Him. The pricks are the ox-goad. The more the ox resists, the deeper the wound. Even from heaven the Master speaks in parables. Evidently for a long time-perhaps from the death of Stephen-the persecutor had been fighting against conviction. When God needs captains for His army, He not unseldom takes them from the ranks of the enemy. The foremost persecutor became the foremost leader of the Church. The conversion of Saul was due to the personal interposition of the living Christ. It was the pierced hand that arrested and apprehended him.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Every conversion is a miracle, and nobody becomes a Christian apart from conversion. Our Lord Jesus said, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 18:3). Little children receive the testimony in the simplicity of faith, and we are called on to do the same. It is remarkable to see, as we look back over the history of the church, how many enemies of the cross have been subdued by the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for them-and not the least of these is Saul of Tarsus.

Gods ways are beyond our understanding and He does not undertake to explain them to us. If we had been members of that early church in Jerusalem, we would have been thrilled over the testimony of Stephen for it looked as though he was destined to become a great leader. Through his eloquence, persuasiveness, and his tender way of presenting the gospel, he might have appealed to many, and many were converted through him. On the other hand, bitter hatred and enmity were stirred against him as the servant of Christ, and he was stoned to death. When we read of Stephens death we are introduced to Saul of Tarsus, a young, calloused, bigoted Hebrew who hated the very name of Jesus: And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young mans feet, whose name was Saul. In Tarsus was a large Jewish colony, and this man Saul, as a student of Gamaliel, had been brought up according to the strictest ideas of the Jews. He tells us later on that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee (Php 3:5). And there he stood that day, looking on as Stephen was put to death. It seemed to be nothing to that hardened young man that the dying martyrs face shone as if it were the face of an angel and that he died praying for blessing on his murderers. God answered that prayer!

The church must have felt that Stephens death was a terrible blow to the Christian testimony, but God has a way of burying His workmen, yet carrying on His work. He raises others to take the places of those He calls home to Heaven. No one ever thought this cynical, young man was to take the place of Stephen and carry on when Stephen was gone. At his death, Stephen had said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Now, the next time the heavens are opened, Saul of Tarsus sees the blessed One on the right hand of God and is won by Him forever.

Sauls Conversion Experience (Act 9:1-22)

As Acts 9 opens we see Saul hurrying to Damascus, with only one dominant desire: to root out all that he found of this way. You will note this expression occurring a number of times in the book of Acts. That was apparently the only name given to early Christianity: the Way. That is what Christianity is; it is a way! It is not just fire insurance for eternity, not simply a method of saving us from eternal judgment; it is a way of blessing, righteousness, and gladness right here on earth. Saul of Tarsus thought to destroy all who were of this way. There is something about Christianity that will not allow it to die. Tertullian said in the second century, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Destroy one Christian and ten will take his place. It has been that way all over the world and that, in itself, shows the divinity of the gospel.

Sauls conversion experience came as he was hurrying along the Damascus road, whether on horseback or afoot I do not know. He has so often been pictured on horseback; but I have an idea he was riding a donkey, because the Pharisees had a great prejudice against riding horses. We read, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

He never got over this revelation of the mystery of the body of Christ-that every member of the church is a member of the glorified Head in Heaven. If one touched a believer on earth, immediately it was felt up there in Glory. Jesus did not say, Why do you persecute My disciples? He said, why persecutest thou me?- for to persecute one of His own is to persecute Him.

Paul cried out, Who art thou Lord? And the answer came back, I am Jesus. He used His personal name, the name meaning Jehovah the Savior. It was the name the angel gave Him before His birth: Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. That was the name our Savior bore through all His earthly ministry, and when he hung on the tree Pilate wrote that name on a tablet and it was placed above His head. And now that He is in Glory, we read, At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus said to Saul, It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Saul was like a refractory ox kicking against the driving goad! And that reveals to us that this seemingly hard, indifferent young man was all the time struggling with his conscience. Deep inside he was hearing again the voice of the dying martyr, Stephen. In effect, Jesus said, Saul, you are making a mistake. You are kicking against the goads. There was something moving within him, troubling him through all those days of persecution. Perhaps one reason for this was that Saul was not the first of his family to be saved. In Romans 16 he gave certain names and he called them my kinsmenwho also were in Christ before me. Doubtless they prayed for their kinsman and God was working in his heart.

Saul trembled, and said, Lord. The implied meaning is that Paul accepted Christ as Lord there and then on the Damascus road. We are told No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost (1Co 12:3). And we know that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth [Jesus as Lord], and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Rom 10:9). In other words Saul said, Lord, henceforth I am Thine, Thy bondservant; I belong to Thee; Thou art my Lord. Lord, give me instruction now. What wilt Thou have me to do? From the moment of his conversion he was submissive, ready to yield himself wholly to the One who died to redeem him.

Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened [that is, the lids-he was still blind, blinded by the glory of the light that shone from the Saviors face], he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink (Act 9:8-9).

The Lord had instructed him to Arise, and go into the city. It is sometimes a blessing to a man to go through a period of soul exercise. We would often like to hurry people into confession of Christ, but sometimes they are not yet ready; the heart exercise is not deep enough; conscience-probing has not been sharp enough. And so God allows some people to go through weeks, sometimes months, of soul exercise and then He lets the light break. For Saul of Tarsus there were to be three days before his sight was restored and he learned of the fullness of the joy of his salvation.

The men who were with him on the road heard the sound, but they thought it was thunder. They could not distinguish anything articulate. Do you know how some modernists try to explain Sauls conversion? They say he had an epileptic fit! Charles Spurgeon has well exclaimed: O blessed epilepsy, if it effects a conversion like this! Others say Saul had a sunstroke. What a mercy if every modernist were to be sunstruck if it would change him into a flaming messenger of the cross!

And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.

Prayer is always an evidence of the working of the Spirit of God in a mans soul. We are not told anywhere in the Bible that men have to pray to be saved. They are to believe. But on the other hand, we always recognize this: when God is dealing with a man the natural thing is for him to cry out in prayer. Does your heart cry out to God? St. Augustine uttered these words in the fourth century when writing to one in great soul distress, You said I am longing for peace and I am crying to God day and night. The fact that thou art seeking Him is proof thou hast found Him, for He reveals Himself to those who seek Him. Am I speaking to anyone who has been seeking Jesus, the sinners Savior, and who fervently prays for light? Oh, then, you do believe in Him and you pray because of your faith in Him!

When Ananias received Gods message he felt he had to reason with God about it. Is not God making a mistake, sending him to Saul of Tarsus? Does it not look as though God is delivering Ananias himself into the hands of the enemy? No wonder Ananias talked back. He said, Lord, I have heard of this man, he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord replied, Go thy way [do what I tell you, Ananias]: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my names sake.

Notice that all the Lord Jesus had said to His apostles He now reiterated to this new convert. The Lord had commanded the twelve apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations-that is, all the Gentiles. The word Gentile is the same as nations; it is a different translation of the same word. But the apostles hesitated and did not seem to have the faith to reach out. God said in effect, Now I am going to send this man as My special representative, and He gave him the same commission.

Then Ananias instantly obeyed and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul. I like that! Notice the affection in this term. This bitter enemy of the cross, now subdued by grace, is addressed as Brother Saul. Ananias continued:

The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

By his baptism he cut himself off from unbelieving Israel and took his place in identification with the Christ the nation had rejected, and with the Christ he himself had spurned until now.

After spending some time with the Christians in Damascus, Paul went away for a little while to Arabia and came back to Damascus (Gal 1:17). And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God (Act 9:20). This is a stronger, clearer note than we have had so far in the book of Acts. Peter proclaimed Him as the Servant; but Saul now as the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said: Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? What has happened? The miracle of conversion! The same miracle that always occurs when a poor sinner looks to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Saul never forgave himself for persecuting the Christians. God forgave him; the Christians forgave him; but he never forgave himself. Years afterwards, when he looked back to these times, he said, I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet [worthy] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1Co 15:9). And when he said, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-he added brokenheartedly-of whom I am chief (1Ti 1:15). He felt there had been no greater sinner than he, for he tried to root out the church of God from the earth. He tried to destroy all who professed the name of Jesus. But God had mercy on him because he did it ignorantly in unbelief. Oh, the boundless mercy of God!

How he delights to take up a great sinner and make him a great saint! This book may fall into the hand of someone who is an avowed enemy of Christ. Perhaps the same feelings that filled the heart of Saul of Tarsus fill your heart. But let me assure you that the One who saved Saul of Tarsus is looking down in compassion on you. All your bitterness, opposition, and hatred of the gospel message does not change His love for you. Oh, that you might get a vision of the risen, glorified Christ and be brought as a captive in the chains of love to that blessed Saviors feet, that you might then become a modern Saul of Tarsus, to go forth and preach the gospel of Christ! Many, many times has this experience been duplicated in the history of the Christian church.

Ive heard people say, I do not believe in sudden conversions. To be perfectly frank, there is no other kind. I do not mean by that that everyone has as marked an experience as Saul of Tarsus had. But I do mean that in the life of every person who is ever saved there comes a definite moment when he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, turning from all confidence in self. And that is conversion. It may take place after long years of unrest and soul-searching, or as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, it may take place in a moment by a mighty convicting work in the soul, bringing one to an end of himself who has never before been very much concerned about the message of the gospel.

We see both kinds all about us. There are those who are brought up, for instance, in Christian homes and all their lives hear the gospel story and perhaps they grow to young manhood or womanhood without definitely committing themselves to Christ. And yet many could say that they have never known a time in their conscious lives when they did not have some conviction of spiritual things. But there had to come a definite moment when they trusted Christ for themselves. That is conversion.

And then so many other people who have lived wild, reckless, careless lives, having no interest whatever in things of God, could say as one of the old hymns puts it:

I once was far away from God

On ruins dark and fatal road,

And little dreamed Id see the day

When I should tread the narrow way.

And yet these people, brought suddenly to a recognition of their lost, sinful condition and led to definite faith in the Lord Jesus, in a moment become new creatures in Christ. There are many such. It was so of Saul of Tarsus. His was really a model conversion.

But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. Following his conversion he became a witness. And that is the will of God for all who are saved. If we know the Lord Jesus Christ for ourselves, we should immediately join the ranks of those who are witnessing to others of His saving power. It is not the will of God that all should preach in a public way, but it is the will of God that all who know the Savior should speak of Him to others and seek to win their fellows to Christ. I am afraid there are a great many Christians (I do not doubt the reality of their conversion when I speak as I do) who are just content to be going to Heaven themselves and who show very little interest in the souls of those about them. It was otherwise with Saul of Tarsus. No sooner was he saved himself than he began telling all who would listen the wonderful truth that had been revealed to his own soul, that Jesus was indeed the Christ of God, the promised Messiah and the Son of God.

The New Fellowship (Act 9:23-31)

Saul preached Christ in Damascus, in the very city to which he had gone intending to throw into prison those who loved the Saviors name. But we are told that after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. Having rejected their own Messiah, they rejected this man who sought to awaken them to a sense of their responsibility to His claims. But we are told that Saul knew of their plans. They watched the gates day and night to kill him, hoping that as he went in or out of the city they might be able to waylay and slay him. But the disciples, learning of it, took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. It was a rather humiliating way for this servant of Christ to leave the city of his first labors, wasnt it?

I remember standing at that wall of the city of Damascus, and I looked up to a little house in the wall and a window there. The guide was absolutely certain that that was the window through which they lowered the basket with the apostle in it. Well, I do not know whether that is true or not, but as I looked at it I could just imagine what it must have meant to this one-time proud, haughty Pharisee, now crouched up in a basket and dropped down over the wall. You would have thought he would never have referred to it again. And if he had had the pride and conceit that some of us have, it would have been among the buried annals. But we hear him speaking of it many years afterward (2Co 11:33).

From Damascus he went on to Jerusalem, and undertook to search out the little companies of believers and to join himself to those whom before he had persecuted. We read, When Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. We do not wonder that they were afraid of him. The last they had seen and known of him he was going from house to house trying to find those who professed the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and deliver them over to be persecuted for His names sake. Oh, they might have said, we dont dare let this man into our assemblies; he is an enemy, perhaps he is a spy just waiting to turn us over to the authorities.

But Paul had a friend who knew and understood. We read, Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. The testimony of Barnabas authenticated the testimony of Saul. In other words Barnabas said, Yes, I know all about it. You do not need to be afraid of him now. He was once the enemy of the truth, but a great change has taken place. Saul of Tarsus has been born again.

I can not too often stress the importance of that second birth. It is being forgotten in so many places today. People imagine they may become Christians by outward reformation, or by joining a church, or even by what they call religious education. They think that you can take a child and educate him along religious lines and he will grow up a Christian. But that is all a delusion. Jesus said, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And the apostle Peter said, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever… And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you (1Pe 1:23; 1Pe 1:25). Saul of Tarsus had believed the gospel. He was born again, He would never again lift a persecuting hand against Gods people. He was saved. And now he longed for association with others of like precious faith. His heart was welling up with love for them now.

In Jerusalem he found a recognized fellowship of believers. This was the new creation company. This fellowship is called in 1Co 1:9, the fellowship of [Gods] Son. We read there, God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son. The fellowship is a beautiful name for the people of God. Once we were just so many units, individual units. We were not particularly interested in one another. It was every one for himself. But grace reached our hearts, and that introduced us into a wonderful fellowship where we had common interest, and from now on we were members one of another.

This fellowship is called very distinctly, the church of God. I have heard it said sometimes by persons who had not fully considered the matter that the church had no existence during the period of transition as depicted in the book of Acts, that it came into full existence only after the apostle Paul was in prison. However, referring to his unconverted days Paul wrote, I persecuted the church of God (1Co 15:9, italics added). So we see that the church of God was there before he was converted. He used the same expression in the Epistle to the Galatians, written years after his own conversion (1:13): For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. And from the day of Pentecost to the present time, the church of God has been a distinct company in this world, made up of those who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. The church of God includes all believers.

The Scriptures also speak, however, of churches of God-that is, local companies of believers. In Gal 1:21-22 Paul wrote, Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ. And in the second verse of that chapter he wrote, unto the churches of Galatia. Used in the plural the term churches refers to local companies in various places, made up of those who professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In writing to those who had been brought to God from heathenism, he said, For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews (1Th 2:14).

It is important to see the distinction between the church of God to which all Christians belong and the churches of God in different communities. A church of God is a company of Christian people. These people may have different doctrinal standards, different views as to ordinances and sacraments, different conceptions of church government, and so on. But where you find believers in the Lord Jesus Christ gathered together seeking to honor Him, coming together for worship, for praise, for testimony, for prayer, there you have a local church of God in any given community.

These churches of God were scattered, by the time Paul was converted, not only in Jerusalem but all over Judea. And in a little while we find them also among the Gentiles. In Act 5:11 we have the term the church used for the first time, in the original manuscripts at least: Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. In Act 2:47 we read Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (KJV). You will notice that in other versions the words to the church are omitted. Probably these three words are not to be considered part of the original text of Scripture, though they do clarify that this verse is referring to a particular company of believers constituting the church in Jerusalem.

Another term is used throughout the book of Acts, and in fact through all the New Testament, and that is the kingdom of God. Wherever these early Christians went preaching the gospel of the grace of God, they carried with them the proclamation that Christ is the rightful King and Lord of all. They called on men everywhere to subject themselves to Him. And those who believed the gospel, those who received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, those who acknowledged Him as their Master now were brought into His kingdom. God hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son (Col 1:13). His kingdom was set up in their hearts. It is a moral thing. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17).

In Acts 9 we read of a company of people in Jerusalem who honored Christ while living in the midst of a sinful world. They crowned Him Lord of all, and they constituted His kingdom. And still that glorious kingdom is in the world today. Some day it will be openly revealed, when our Savior comes again. Now it is the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:9). When He re-turns it will be the day of the kingdom and glory. I think it is helpful to us as believers if we get some of these terms clearly in mind. We are members of the church of God; we are members also of churches of God. We belong to this glorious fellowship of the redeemed, and we have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of Gods love.

More than that, Saul of Tarsus was chosen of God later on to open up a new and wonderful revelation that had never been made known before; that is, that believers are not only members of the church of God, but the church of God is also the body of Christ. All believers are members of that body and He is their glorious Head in Heaven. What a wonderful fellowship that is!

The outward expression of this fellowship is seen in the Lords table. In 1Co 10:16-17, we read, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion? The word communion is the same as the word fellowship in the original text: Is it not the [fellowship] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the [fellowship] of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body. We eat and drink together as those redeemed to God by the precious blood of His Son in remembrance of Him who gave His life for us.

Now it was into this fellowship that Saul, the one-time enemy of the cross of Christ, had been brought. What a wonderful thing it must have been for Saul of Tarsus to sit for the first time with these Christians at Jerusalem and enjoy communion with them, to partake of the loaf and the cup in commemoration of the Savior whom for so long he had rejected!

I remember reading in a missionary record of a young man in New Guinea who had been away to school and had gotten a good education, then returned to his own island and to his own village after his conversion. On the Lords day the group of missionaries and believers were gathered together to observe the Lords supper. As this young man sat by one of the elder missionaries, the missionary recognized that a sudden tremor had passed through the young mans body. The young man had laid his hand on the missionarys arm, indicating that he was under a great nervous strain. Then in a moment all was quiet again. The missionary whispered, What was it that troubled you? He answered, The man who just came in killed and ate the body of my father. And now he has come in to remember the Lord with us. At first I was so shocked to see the murderer of my own father sit down with us at the table of the Lord, I didnt know whether I could endure it. But it is all right now. He is washed in the same precious blood. And so together they had communion. Does the world know anything of this fellowship? It is a marvelous thing, the work of the blessed Holy Spirit of God.

I think of Saul of Tarsus seated there with that little group of believers around him. And I think of them looking over and saying, That is the man that arrested my father. That is the man that threw my mother into prison. That is the man that tried to make me blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus. There he sits, a humbled contrite believer, receiving the bread and the wine in commemoration of the Lord who died. What a wonderful fellowship!

We read that Saul went in and out among them at Jerusalem. He enjoyed to the full these privileges of fellowship. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. The term Grecians here means not only Greeks, but Hellenistic Jews-Jews born within the nations of the Gentiles. But they, instead of responding to the message, went about to slay him. God permitted Saul now to know something of the persecutions that he had caused others.

When the brethren realized that his life was in danger if he remained in Jerusalem, they brought him down to Caesarea, the seaport, and sent him to Tarsus, his own native city. And now with Saul out of the way the churches prospered. That seems a strange thing. You would have thought they might have prospered more with the ministry of this wonderful man of God among them. But now he was the object of the intense hatred of the Pharisaic party that he had once represented. And the Christians realized that it was better that he go elsewhere to labor than remain in Jerusalem. And so we are told, Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria. Observe the three districts. By this time churches had been established throughout Judea, far north in Galilee, and in the intermediate district of Samaria. And they were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

Have you ever noticed the Bible arithmetic in the book of Acts? In 2:41 we read the Lord added those that believed. And in 2:47 the Lord added those that were being saved. In 5:14 certain ones were added to their company, and they became about five thousand men. And then in 6:7 and 9:31 (kjv) the number of believers were multiplied. This is Bible arithmetic. First addition, then multiplication. I am afraid sometimes it is not like that today. In fact, I know a great many churches where there seems to be subtraction rather than holding their own, let alone addition or multiplication. My dear brothers and sisters, if our companies are not being added to, and if believers are not being multiplied, Ill tell you the reason: It is because the church is not walking in the fear of God and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. When the Spirit of God has His way in the hearts and lives of believers, then unsaved people are going to be reached and won for Christ. If we are not seeing people converted it indicates that something is wrong. If believers are truly moving forward with God, if He is having His way in their lives, then their testimony will really count for Him. Let us face this honestly and ask ourselves, What am I doing to win souls that the work of the Lord may progress and believers may be added to the Lord?

The Practical Side of Christianity (Act 9:32-43)

We are coming to the close of Peters later Judean ministry. In Acts 10 and 11 we will see him used of God to open the door to the Gentiles; and in chapter 12 we have his arrest and marvelous deliverance from prison. From there on, Peter fades into the background and Paul takes the prominent place.

I was half asleep on a warm afternoon while we were traveling through Palestine when suddenly the train stopped with a jerk. As I woke up with a start and looked out the window, I saw the name Lydda. It carried me back two thousand years. At this town of Lydda Peter was engaged in ministering the Word, And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. I think every one of the different diseases mentioned in Scripture was intended by God to illustrate in some way the effects of sin. Palsy was a disease very common in Palestine during the days of our Lords sojourn on earth, and afterwards. It illustrates the utter helplessness of the sinner.

The Lord Jesus often ministered to people with palsy. You will remember the palsied man who was let down through the roof by his four friends, and the Lord Jesus gave him not only healing of his body, but forgiveness of his sins (Mar 2:1-12). You will recall the poor man who had lain by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. He was sick five years before even the Lord came from Heaven! Jesus said to this poor, helpless man, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool. Jesus spoke the life-giving word that gave strength to those palsied limbs and the man sprang to his feet and went away carrying his bed (Joh 5:1-17).

Here in Acts 9 we have another palsied man in all his helplessness. If you have not trusted Christ, you are just like him. You have no ability to save yourself; you cant take one step toward God. If this man was ever to be healed, someone must come to him, and that is just what Christ Jesus did. We read, When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). He comes to us where we are and speaks the word that gives life to poor, helpless sinners.

Peter evidently saw in this man a spirit of expectation. The man may have been a Christian-we do not know. Peter said unto himJesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. One may ask, Why do we not have many miracles like this today? God has never promised in His Word that all miracles and signs would remain in the church to the end of the dispensation. He was speaking to the disciples when He said, In my name shall they cast out devils;if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mar 16:17-18).

Many of the apostles found that these signs accompanied their ministry, but we never read that the same power was given to other believers. In the early church there were far more evidences of the miraculous power of the Spirit of God to heal than we perhaps see today, but there was greater reason for it. Men knew less of the human body and its ailments and how to minister to them than they know today. Down through the centuries God has given remarkable enlightenment and skill in dealing with physical ailments and God does not always do for us what we can do for ourselves. He does not always work miracles. He can bless the medicine and the skill of the physician and surgeon, and these are as much an answer to prayer as if He wrought a miracle. After all, every case of healing is from God. The doctors ability does not count for anything at all unless God blesses his efforts for the building up and renewing of the bodies He made.

There is another point to remember. When the church went forth in the beginning, in its purity, terrible as an army with banners, it was the delight of the Lord to give signs to accompany it. But we must remember we live in a day when we can look back over fifteen hundred years or more of grave departure from the Word of God, fifteen hundred years in which apostasy has been making tremendous strides in the Christian church, fifteen hundred years of ever-increasing worldliness and corruption. It has been said that the corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption-and we can see why the Lord might withdraw some of His great gifts. Suppose He gave some of these gifts today in abundant measure. To what section of the church would He give them? He could not give them to all. Would there not be a great danger of increase in spiritual pride on the part of any section specially honored?

There are reasons why God withholds certain things. I have sometimes illustrated it like this: A young man is engaged to a beautiful young woman and has full confidence in her. He delights in lavishing presents on her. Given a position across the sea, he goes away, and from his new station sends beautiful and precious gifts to this lady of his heart in the homeland. But then he learns the one he has trusted is proving unfaithful to him. She is seen with other lovers and found here and there with them in questionable places. When the heart-breaking news comes to him, do you not think it would dry up the stream of gifts? He would not feel the same about her. Will you look at that example as a little parable? When the church was in its first love, the Lord Jesus delighted to grace her with many gifts, but the church has been unfaithful. We have drifted far away from the principles of those early days and the Lord has had to deal with us in much more reserve than in the beginning.

There are those who say today that miracles passed away with the apostles. That is not true. Many wonderful miracles have occurred in answer to prayer during the last nineteen hundred years, and here and there throughout the world today God still acts in wonderful grace. Again and again God puts forth His hand in healing power, and many given up by doctors have marvelously recovered as Gods people have prayed. Other signs and wonders too have accompanied Christianity. It really behooves us to be careful and not go to either of two extremes. Let us not insist that the working of the Spirit of God through miracles and signs is past; on the other hand, let us not say that He will always so act if we ask Him to do so. The measure in which He delights to work is left with Him.

Peter said to Aeneas, Arise! and the man arose immediately. It was a real testimony to the people in the neighborhood. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. God used the miracle of healing to direct the attention of needy souls to Christ Himself, and they came not only for physical help, but also for spiritual blessing.

The next miraculous healing we read about occurred in Joppa, a place not far from Lydda, and on the sea coast whereas Lydda is inland. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did (Act 9:36). I want to fix your attention on this verse for a few moments for we are given one of the very real evidences of a truly converted person. She was deeply interested in doing good to others. It is marvelous to see how God in His grace exercised peoples hearts into sharing their possessions to supply others temporal needs. Christianity is not a means simply of getting into Heaven, nor is it only a system of doctrine, but it is a wonderful manifestation of divine life and love in the midst of a world of sin and wretchedness.

I am afraid sometimes we forget that side of our faith; many professing believers are so terribly self-centered. They seem to be looking constantly for some new religious thrill or new spiritual experience. They are always looking inside and always seeking blessing for themselves. They stream to the altar when the invitation is given. If you gave the invitation a hundred times a year, they would come a hundred times.

That isnt the ideal Christian at all. The ideal Christian is one who is resting in Christ for his souls salvation and his great concern becomes the salvation of others. He is interested in making Christ known and in doing good in a temporal way to others. John insisted on this, and James asked, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (2:15-16)

Dorcas loved the Lord and displayed this love in a very practical way. She was not satisfied with reading her Bible only. She had a consecrated needle and used it for the blessing of other people, and the Spirit of God has preserved this record that we might learn from it and never forget her. Some of you dear Christian women who are not satisfied with your life, get busy and try to help and bless other people, and you will be surprised to see how your own spiritual condition will improve! You will get on wonderfully well when you start thinking about others. I do not go quite so far as a preacher a few years ago, who said, Anyone whose chief concern is the salvation of his own soul hasnt got a soul worth saving. Every soul is valuable. But I would say this: Anyone constantly occupied with his own spiritual experience and never concerned about blessing other people will never have an experience worth being occupied with.

Dorcas must have been a most genial person. I cant imagine her as one of those sour pusses we sometimes see today–going around with long, melancholy faces and a holier-than-thou attitude. I think her face gleamed with the love of Christ. I do not think she had a dainty little handshake, but I believe she had a pump-handle handshake. She was always interested in other people-really a warmhearted Christian.

But this dear woman died. Her spirit went home to be with Christ and her body lay there in an upper room. The Christians felt Dorcas should go to Heaven, but they wanted her here. For some of us they would not worry very much. They would just look pious and say, The Lord has taken him. But they would not be very anxious to have us come back. These dear believers, however, were exceedingly sorry to lose this wonderful Christian character.

And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. They probably thought, We do not know what he can do, but we shall send for him. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. Cant you just see that picture? The lifeless body of the dear one lying on the bed while her friends, gathered around, mourn for her. One exclaims, Look at this coat. I didnt know where I was going to get a winter coat; but she cut a coat that her grandfather left and made it over for me! And others were showing one thing and another. Dorcas made it for me! These garments seemed to have a mute voice, and Peter heard their crying and put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes; and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive. What a rejoicing they must have had!

She is one of the special saints of the New Testament. Her name has been enshrined in countless Dorcas societies-groups of Christian women who come together to do what she did and emulate her ministry to the poor and needy.

This is one of the ways the gospel of Christ commends itself to the needy. Do you realize what we call social service really began, after all, with Christ and His apostles? Many talk today of the social gospel and try to distinguish it from the saving gospel. There is no such distinction, for the gospel that saves the individual also brings blessings to the needy.

In all the reading 1 have done I have never read of any hospital for the treatment of the sick being established in the world before Christ came. We have no record of an asylum for the mentally sick people before Jesus came. Before He came the mentally deficient or insane were driven from their homes and left in tombs or in desert places. They were looked upon as demoniacs. People sometimes considered them inspired and listened to their strange ravings for some new revelation. But there was no asylum in which they could be treated and tenderly cared for.

There was no such thing as a leprosarium in the world until after Jesus came. The leper was doomed to wander in the wilderness, and it was only during the Christian era that the first home for lepers was opened. Ever since then the church of God has been ministering to those suffering from that horrible disease.

There was no such thing as an orphanage until after Jesus came. The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Assyrians, with all their boasted civilization, never thought of opening an orphanage. Instead, orphan children, unless adopted by some of their relatives, were exposed to the elements and left to die, or else were sold into slavery. Many little boys and girls were given over to a fate worse than death before Jesus came. It was a Christian who started the first orphanage, and it is Christian people who have been interested in these things ever since. There was no such thing in all the world as international relief-until Jesus came. You can search all the records and you will never read, for instance, that during the famine in Egypt the people of Rome took up an offering to help the starving people; nor during a pestilence in Syria did the people in Greece raise a fund to assist those in distress in Syria. It was not very long after Jesus came that the Christians in Achaia and other parts of the Grecian world were sending to those in need in Judea. The Red Cross would never have come into existence were it not for Jesus; for, after all, what is the symbol of the Red Cross? It is the blood-red cross of Christ! We need to remember that all these agencies had their birth in the gospel of the grace of God.

Dorcas stands out before us as a special picture of one who lived her faith by ministring to the temporal needs of those around her. May we all learn to emulate her concern for others.

The last verse of Acts 9 introduces us to the events recorded in the next chapter: And it came to pass, that he [Peter] tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Act 9:1-19

The Conversion of St. Paul.

That blessed war of aggression which Jesus Christ wages upon the evil one is a war which is made to maintain itself. Christ’s soldiers are His captured enemies. Every soul won from resistance to the Cross is marked at once with the Cross-badge and sent into the field to win others. Perhaps the most notable instance of this in history is the conversion of Saul. Jesus Christ never encountered a bitterer or an abler foe; Jesus Christ never won a mightier captain for His army.

I. The important fact that such a man suddenly abandoned the Pharasaic theology and became the Church’s foremost preacher amply justifies the detail with which the story is here related. The immediate occasion of Saul’s change of life was quite as exceptional as the change itself was eventful. Christ directly called this misguided persecutor to Himself; He called him personally. And this personal manifestation of Him whom the heavens had received is, I suppose, solitary in Christian history.

II. The general nature of the change which passed over Saul is, I think, to be pretty well made out from what we know of the man before and after. If the punctilious and legal obedience he had been striving after was proved to have been consistent it was a gross breach of the law in its spirit, and he saw how unholy and unrighteous a life his had been. Saul’s dialectic was quick enough to see that it must be the spirit and not the letter that God cares for. Yet there was little need for dialectic. The spiritual sense of the man, purged now from pride, which always blinds us, and illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God whom before he kicked against, saw what false education and self-righteousness had kept him from seeing, that the law by which alone we may please God is a spiritual thing. The moment this spiritual law of love to God and man, a law of heart motives, was made plain to him, sin revived, and he died. His mind reverted for help, turned round about in his loneliness to the names of those very disciples down in his note-book that he had come to arrest, and now, in a sweet vision, he seemed to see one of these friends of Jesus come into the home where he lay helpless and in darkness, and give him light. See how Jesus Christ must smite down that He may lift up. He first came in person by the way, and brought judgment, darkness, horror, and almost death. He came now, the second time, by the gentle words of His humble servant, came by the blessed sacrament of His Church, and so coming He brought light, peace, and the hope and desire of a better life.

J. Oswald Dykes, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 469.

Act 9:1-23

Early History and Conversion of Paul.

Viewed as a public event in the history of the Christian Church, the conversion of Paul furnishes new and independent testimony to the Divine origin of the gospel. The story is perfectly authenticated. Twice did the Apostle repeat it in detail before public assemblies; and the book in which we find it recorded was written less than thirty years after the events were said to have occurred. We learn from the incident:-

I. The wisdom of God’s providence. Saul, as he himself tells us, was separated from his birth for the work of Apostleship; but though he was advancing towards middle age before he was actually converted, yet all his intervening history was in reality a preparation for the true labour of his life. His birth and boyhood in a Greek city gave him familiarity with that language which he was to use in all his journeyings. His intimate acquaintance with the system of the Pharisees, acquired in the school of Gamaliel, enabled him to cope with those Judaizing adversaries with whom he had everywhere to contend. A “Hebrew of the Hebrews, yet at the same time a native Hellenist and a Roman citizen,” he combined in himself, as Dr. Schaff has said, “the three great nationalities of the ancient world, and was endowed with all the natural qualifications for a universal apostleship.”

II. We see here all the riches of the Redeemer’s grace. Had the Christians then in Jerusalem been asked to name the man who was least likely to become a convert to the faith, they might possibly have specified Saul of Tarsus. Yet observe how thoroughly he is changed, and how the transformation was effected by the might of gentleness. Nothing is more remarkable in the whole narrative than the tenderness of the remonstrance which our Lord addressed to the persecutor. He came in love, He spoke in gentleness, and the heart which might have been hardened by condemnation was melted by mercy.

W. M. Taylor, Paul the Missionary, p. 27.

References: Act 9:2.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 340; Ibid., vol. xix., p. 117. Act 9:3, Act 9:4.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 46. Act 9:3-9.-B. F. Westcott, The Revelation of the Risen Lord, p. 191. Act 9:4.-G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 309; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 169.

Act 9:4-5

The Lord’s dealing with St. Paul has been precisely the way of His dealing with thousands and tens of thousands whom He has sought to make in like manner partakers of the light of the everlasting life. Them, too,-

I. He meets in the way. He hedges up that way with thorns so that they cannot find their path. He stands before them, as He stood before Balaam, with a drawn sword in His hand, willing them to go back to the path of duty and to choose the way of life. He shows them, too, His glory. The earthly in them stands abashed before the glory of the heavenly which is revealed to them, even as the stars of night fade and fail before the rising sun, and have no glory by reason of the glory which excelleth.

II. Notice another aspect in which St. Paul’s conversion was but the pattern and exemplar of what every other man’s conversion must be. We sometimes assume that there was no resistance of the old man in him, and that there could have been none-so mighty were the spiritual forces brought to bear, to cast down the strongholds of sin and Satan in him, that in this respect at least his conversion was unlike any other. But everything indicates the contrary. We are not permitted to see what passed within him during those three mysterious days when, having been brought to Damascus, trembling and astonished, he saw no man, and did neither eat nor drink. But of one thing we may be sure-that they were days of a mighty internal conflict; and in that “Behold, he prayeth,” uttered by him who seeth in secret, in that, and only in that, at length there was a token that he had at last yielded himself the captive of Christ-vanquished by Almighty love. And here, too, in these outlines of his conversion, we must read what must be the main features of our own.

III. The whole after life of St. Paul was a continuation of the work which on that day was auspicated and begun in him. And such must be our lives, such must be our conversion. Not something which we remember once to have been, not something which every day is receding into greater and dimmer distance, but something in the ever new power of which we are to live from day to day.

F. Trench, Penny Pulpit, No. 3656.

Reference: Act 9:4, Act 9:5.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 160.

Act 9:5

This declaration points:-

I. To past impressions. Many persons regard this startling event as the first and only period that the Saviour sought the services of an ardent man; that without any previous internal preparation he was changed in the whole current and purposes of his life. But this cannot be altogether true. That this was the decisive moment in his history there cannot be a question. The grand transformation then took place, but the Divine Spirit had been at work within him before. There had been influences and arguments at work on St. Paul’s mind, and these had been the goads against which he had rebelled. And what were these past expressions, and whence did they arise? I think they must have arisen from his education and experience. It was impossible that he, with his candid nature, should have witnessed the pure, loving, self-sacrificing lives of these men and women whom he had haled to prison, and not make some inquiry as to the faith which had accomplished so much in them. And then the very teacher at whose feet he sat as a revering scholar had spoken about this new religion in a manner that seemed to imply that he had in his own mind a half-conviction of its truth. These things formed the goads which stung Saul, against which he struggled.

II. These words not only point to past impressions, but they describe present struggles. Many a man has been conscious of this battle going on within him for years; this struggle of what he knows to be right for the sin he loves so well.

III. These words proclaim certain misery and future defeat. There could be nothing but unhappiness and failure as the result of the course which Saul took, the opposition he offered to the progress of Christ’s kingdom. It was useless for him to kick against the goads; they only stung him the more severely; resistance was of no avail; he could not fight successfully against a superior power. This is a lesson which seems true enough, but it is difficult to learn. There is only one out of two courses-to bow and acknowledge the grace and power of Christ, or resolutely set yourselves against Christ, and at last be broken as a rod of iron. For the enemies of Christ shall be made his footstool.

W. Braden, Penny Pulpit, No. 516.

References: Act 9:5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 709. Act 9:5, Act 9:6.-Ibid., vol. xxvi., No. 1520.

Act 9:6

The Apostle’s experience may never again be exactly reproduced as regards its external circumstances; but in every manifestation of God to the soul which has hitherto been ignorant of His true being, close upon the question “Who art thou, Lord?” will follow the further inquiry, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

I. Action is the necessary result of Divine illumination. When God lifts the veil to reveal Himself to His creature, it is not merely to satisfy the curiosity with which man seeks to penetrate into the mysteries of the invisible; it is not only to call into play the warm emotions of man’s heart, and set them all aglow with the tingling of the touch of an unseen world. It is indeed to increase man’s knowledge of the infinite, but to the end that that knowledge may lead him on to new roads of duty thereby thrown open to him; it is to kindle man’s affections with the coal from off the altar of the invisible, but on this account that he may so be empowered to act not in the power of the natural man, but in the strength of the supernatural gift of the Spirit.

II. But the means-the way by which, and in which, the blessed end is to be carried out-how difficult to select, how dangerous to be mistaken; to have the bright future forfeited by a wrong choice! Trembling and astonished at the dignity of his privilege, man fears by wilful or ignorant choice of means to frustrate the purpose which has so graciously been provided for him. Dedicating himself and all his powers to the God who has chosen him, he cries with the earnestness of hearty devotion, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” In other words, he realises and prepares to follow out his vocation.

III. In following out our vocation, we have to remind ourselves of two great principles that characterise the works of God as performed by Himself, and must therefore govern that work which, in union with Him, we hope to accomplish in the world. With God nothing is too minute to be taken count of. With God there is no undue haste. These must then be the laws of our conduct. “He that contemneth small things shall fall by little and little.” “Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not tarry.”

H. Hollingworth, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Oct. 18th, 1877.

References: Act 9:6.-Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times,” vol. iii., p. 310; W. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 74; Bishop Barry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 65; W. Pulsford, Trinity Church Sermons, p. 250; Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 38; Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 349; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 35; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 18; vol. iv., p. 89. Act 9:8.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 333; vol. xvi., p. 354; vol. xix., p. 119. Act 9:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1838. Act 9:11.-Ibid., vol. i., No. 16; vol. xxxi., No. 1860; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 308; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 131. Act 9:13-16.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 944.

Act 9:15

I. Saul is here a vessel. The word here rendered “vessel” may also be translated “instrument,” but either reading gives a good sense. God is an infinite spring giving inexhaustibly forth; men are empty vessels receiving everlastingly of His fulness.

II. He is a vessel unto Me. The vessel had been wrested that day from the power of the enemy; henceforth he will be a vessel separated unto and honoured in the service of Jesus Christ.

III. “He is a chosen vessel unto Me.” (1) This must mean that he was a choice vessel. (2) He was chosen or ordained of God unto the work of the Apostleship.

IV. He is a vessel of election unto Me to bear My name. Paul bore the name of Jesus Christ (1) in his intellect, (2) in his heart, (3) in his ministry.

V. He was to bear God’s name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. (1) The wide scope of his ministry required certain social qualifications which the other apostles did not possess. (2) The work allotted to him demanded great intellectual culture in order to its successful performance. (3) The work demanded much moral courage.

J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 196.

References: Act 9:15.-Bishop Stubbs, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 49. Act 9:16.-J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 48.

Act 9:19-30

Damascus-Arabia-Jerusalem.

We see from this chapter:-

I. The minute care which God has over His people. He gives to Ananias the street and the house in the great city of Damascus where Paul is sitting in his blindness, and sends him thither to his help. But though the commission came to Ananias supernaturally, we are not to imagine that similar things-similar, I mean, in kind, though lower in degree-are not occurring now. So let the people of God take comfort, whereever they are and whatever be their circumstances. God knows everything about them, and in some way or other He will manifest His care for them. His letters are all accurately addressed, and none of them go astray.

II. God gives special training for special work. This was furnished to Paul, not only by his conversion, but by his communings with the Lord in Arabia. He who would preach the gospel with power must be himself a believer in the Lord. The secret of true, heart-stirring eloquence in the pulpit is, next after the power of the Holy Ghost, that which the French Abb has very happily called the “accent of conviction” in the speaker. He who would preach to others must be much alone with his Bible and his Lord, else when he appears before his people, he will send them to sleep with his pointless platitudes, or starve them with his empty conceits.

III. We learn, lastly, to give a cordial welcome to new converts and new-comers in the Church. Ananias went as soon as he was sent, and said, “Brother Saul!” How these words must have thrilled the heart of the blinded one! So again, in dealing with young converts, how slow some are to believe in the genuineness and thoroughness of God’s own work! It was not so with Barnabas, and it ought not to be so with us.

W. M. Taylor, Paul the Missionary, p. 47.

Act 9:20

I. Promptitude is a pre-requisite and essential element of success. A beginning is only a beginning, and yet much depends on how it is made. Some beginnings are like the spring on the mountain side, gushing into life and flowing clearly. Some are like waters from a mossy soil, trickling, oozing, so little visible and so uncertain that you cannot tell where they begin. But here is a vigorous clear beginning; here is the saliency of a new life. That promptitude of Paul’s saved him from many difficulties which else would have beset his course. It raised his conversion above suspicion. It opened his way. It conformed his faith. It made retreat more difficult. It made him a fit example for all who are beginning the Christian course to the end of time.

II. If the principle is true, it is applicable all down the scale; not to great men only, but to every man. “Straightway” do what thy hand findeth to do. (1) Straightway. And your new consciousness will become bright and clear, as it never will do by abstinence and repression. Doubts gather round the inactive mind, over the slumbering, reluctant will, as mists and exhalations over the stagnant pool. Work in spite of them; work through them on to duty,-they are gone or only linger, thin and luminous, like vapours that are vanishing away. (2) Straightway. And the outer difficulties, which gather like the inner doubts, will, like them, be dispersed, and you will see them no more; or better still, seeing them, you will not fear or regard them, but go on your unswerving way. (3) You will give to your soul one of the first and most indispensable conditions of growth. (4) You will lay the first stones in the great edifice of habit. This is the true tower with the heaven-reaching top, the tower of a man’s life; and on the very first stones of that tower you will see written the word “Straightway.” (5) You will end no small part of what may be called the lesser miseries of life. (6) The enemies of our true life and of the gospel of Christ are taken at advantage, and timorous friends-the discouraged, the weak, the halting-receive as it were a new inspiration. Spiritual strength goes from one to another like electricity, and a soul in prompt action necessarily gives it out, charging other souls with the celestial fire till they too glow and burn with love to Christ.

A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 87.

Act 9:31

Our Lord tells us that the Comforter’s work as Comforter is to abide, to teach, to remind, to testify, to reprove. These are the ways in which He comforts. The text carries on the same idea. “The Churches… were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” What then is the conclusion at which we arrive? That the Holy Ghost does not perform the office of Comforter by comfort only or by direct comfort, but through the exercise of other of His prerogatives, such as teaching, testifying, and reproving.

I. We must not divide the sevenfold operation of the Holy Ghost. We must not seek comfort without holiness, nor holiness without comfort; and often the path to any one of His influences lies direct and straight from the other. If you endeavour to obtain any one of His actings without the rest, probably you will thwart Him. The best way is to acknowledge the Holy Ghost as that great Being who acts upon the human mind, and to place yourself entirely in His hands, to do with you just as he sees best.

II. I believe that the Holy Ghost generally begins His consoling processes by increasing our distress. He convinces of sin first, i.e., Christ justifying; and righteousness, i.e., pardon; then of judgment, i.e., the judgment, the termination of all evil; and so He brings out “judgment unto victory,” and “tribulation has worked patience,” and patience experience, and experience hope; and that hope maketh not ashamed; the sorrow is turned into joy, the Sanctifier is the Comforter, and the comfort is true, deep, holy, and for ever. Thus, then, even in His comfortings, the Holy Ghost, in His incalculable processes, vindicates the truth of the emblem, and is as the wind, acting in His sovereignty, but no man knoweth whence He cometh nor whither He goeth. But deep and utterly out of reach as His methods are, it is a wonderful provision that the Third Person in the blessed Trinity should be revealed to us characteristically as a Comforter. It is this which makes Him over to us in a relationship that matches the necessity of our daily being. The Holy Ghost is many things. He is a quickener, He is a gladdener, He is a glorifier, but above all He is a Comforter. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.”

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 181.

References: Act 9:31.-C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. ii., p. 41; W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 266. Act 9:32-35.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1315. Act 9:34.-G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 329. Act 9:36-42.-N. Axtell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 211. Acts 9-Contemporary Pulpit, vol. i., p. 278. Act 10:1, Act 10:2.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 29; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 240; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 255. Act 10:4.-E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion, p. 112. Act 10:5.-A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, p. 801. Act 10:14.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1823.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 9

1. The vision of Glory on the road to Damascus (Act 9:1-9).

2. Instructions given to Ananias (Act 9:10-16).

3. Saul filled with the Spirit, is baptized and preaches that Jesus is the Son of God (Act 9:17-22).

4. Saul persecuted and back in Jerusalem (Act 9:23-31).

5. Further Acts of Peter (Act 9:32-43).

The previous chapter must be looked upon in its main part as a parenthesis. The record now leads us back to the close of the seventh, and the person who was connected with the great tragedy enacted there is prominently brought now before us. The witnesses of the wicked deed had laid down their clothes at a young mans feet, whose name was Saul. This is the first time this remarkable man is mentioned. We also learned that he was consenting unto Stephens death; he made havoc of the church and committed men and women to prison. While the scattered believers had carried the Gospel throughout Judea, Philip had gone down to Samaria and with great results preached the Gospel, and during the same time Peter and John preached in the Samaritan villages, Saul carried on his work of persecution. This we learn from the opening verse of the present chapter. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. The conversion of this great persecutor and his call by the risen and glorified lord to be the Apostle to the Gentiles is the event which is next described. It is the greatest event recorded in Acts next to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Saul was from Tarsus in Cilicia, where he had become acquainted with Greek life, literature, art and philosophy. The chief industry of Tarsus was tent making. This trade the young Saul learned. He had a married sister living in Jerusalem (Act 23:16). He also was a Roman citizen.

Saul received his religious education in Jerusalem. We find this from his own words, I am verily a man, a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye are all this day (Act 22:3).

That Saul was highly respected in Jerusalem and close to the leaders of the people, is seen by the letters entrusted to him and the commission to Damascus. He may have been even a member of the council, for he voted. When they (Christians) were put to death, I gave my voice (literally, my vote) against them (Act 26:10).

And now Gods marvelous Grace and Power in salvation is to be manifested. Israel as a nation had rejected the offer and Stephens death marked the end of that gracious offer. But God can manifest even greater riches of His Grace and display His great Love. Saul not alone belonged to the nation, which had rejected Christ, but shared in that rejection, but he was, so to speak, the heading up of all the hatred and malignity against the Christ of God. He personified the blindness, unbelief and hatred of the whole nation. He was indeed an enemy, the greatest enemy, the chief of sinners. Surely only Grace could save such a one, and Grace it is, which is now to be manifested in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the Grace which he was to know first by the vision of the glorified Christ, and which he, ever after, was to proclaim and make known to others.

The vision itself which burst upon Saul on the road to Damascus is one of the greatest in the whole Bible. It has baffled unbelief. Infidels of all descriptions, French rationalists like Renan, reformed rationalistic Jews, and the worst of all, the advocates of the destructive Bible Criticism, have tried to explain the occurrence in some natural way.

Renan said that it was an uneasy conscience with unstrung nerves, fatigue of the journey, eyes inflamed by the hot sun, a sudden stroke of fever, which produced the hallucination. And this nonsense is repeated to this day. Others of the critics have stated that it was a thunderstorm which overtook him, and that a flash of lightning blinded him. In that lightning flash he imagined that he saw Christ. Again, others have tried to explain his vision by some physical disease. Jews and others have declared that he suffered from Epilepsy, which the Greeks called the holy disease. This disease, they say, put him into a state of ecstasy, which may have greatly impressed his Gentile hearers. In such an attack he imagined to have seen a vision and heard a voice. All these and other opinions are puerile inventions. The fact is, the conversion of Saul is one of the great miracles and evidences of Christianity.

The ninth chapter does not contain the full record of what happened on the road to Damascus. The Apostle Paul himself relates twice his own experience in chapter 22:5-16 and in chapter 26:12-18. He also mentions his conversion briefly in 1Co 15:8; Gal 1:15-16 and 1Ti 1:12-13. The three accounts of Sauls conversion are not without meaning. The one before us in the ninth chapter is the briefest, and is simply the historical account of the event as it had to be embodied in the Book of the Acts, as history. The account in the twenty-second chapter was given by Paul in the Hebrew tongue; it is the longest statement and was addressed to the Jews. The account in the twenty-sixth chapter was given in presence of the Roman governor Festus and the Jewish king Agrippa, therefore addressed to both Jews and Gentiles. But are there not discrepancies and disagreements in these three accounts? Such has been the claim from the side of men who reject the inspiration of the Bible. There are differences, but no disagreements. These differences in themselves are the evidences of inspiration. The differences, however, are simply in the manner in which the facts of the event are presented.

He saw then the glorified One and heard His voice. This great vision became the great turning point of his life. He received perfect knowledge and assurance, that the rejected Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. The great event is prophetic. It will be repeated on a larger scale when the Lord Jesus comes again and the remnant of Israel sees Him coming in the clouds of heaven.

The words which the Lord addressed to Saul:–Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? contain the blessed Gospel he was soon to proclaim. He did not persecute Christ, but those who had believed on Him.

Every believing sinner is a member of the body of Christ. Christ in Glory, the Lord, who spoke to Saul in the way, is the Head of that body, the church. Christ is in each member of His body, His life is there; and every believer is in Christ. Ye in Me and I in you. And this great hidden mystery flashes forth in this wonderful event for the first time Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. The poor, hated, despised Nazarenes, whom the mad, Jewish zealot Saul of Tarsus had driven out of Jerusalem, put into prison and delivered unto death, were one with the Lord in Glory. They were identified with Him and He with them. Their persecution meant His persecution, in their affliction He was afflicted. They were members of His body and that body was in existence.

Soon after we see the erstwhile persecutor preaching Jesus, that He is the Son of God. Persecution soon followed. He also spent a time in Arabia and then paid a visit to Jerusalem for fifteen days (Gal 1:17-24). Further Acts of Peter by divine power conclude this chapter.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

25. SAUL’S CONVERSION – AN EXAMPLE OF GRACE

Act 9:1-22

The story of Saul’s conversion is recorded three times in the Book of Acts, twice in his own words (Act 22:4-16; Act 26:9-19), and once here in Luke’s words. This man’s conversion is described in great detail by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because the conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a pattern, or example, of all true conversions (1Ti 1:12-16).

People commonly talk about Saul’s Damascus Road experience as though it was a rare, exceptional thing, but that is not the case at all. Without question, the physical things Saul experienced that day were exceptional. The brilliant light and audible voice from heaven, to my knowledge, have not accompanied any other person’s conversion. However, Saul’s spiritual experiences on the Damascus Road were not uncommon at all. In fact, all who are truly converted by the grace of God experience the very same things Saul did, essentially.

Salvation is not an experience, but a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ (Luk 2:30). We must not look to our experience as the basis of faith and assurance before God. We look to Christ alone, trusting his blood, his righteousness, his intercession, and the power of his grace for the salvation of our souls. Christ alone is our Savior! Christ alone is the Object of our faith! Yet, salvation is something people experience. No one has the grace of God in his heart who does not experience the workings of grace in his heart. (Salvation is a work of grace – Eph 2:8-9). Taking Saul’s conversion as our example, we see that there are five distinct acts of grace by which all who are saved have been brought to repentance and faith in Christ (Psa 65:4).

1. A DIVINE ELECTION (Act 9:15) – No one has ever been saved, or ever will be, except those who are the objects of God’s eternal, electing love (2Th 2:13-14; Act 13:48). God’s operations of grace toward Saul did not begin on the Damascus Road, but long before. Saul was chosen to salvation before the world began (Eph 1:4-6). When God sent Ananias to preach to this newborn babe in grace, the very first thing he preached to him was election (Act 22:13-14). Faith in Christ is not the cause of election, but it is the fruit and the proof of election (Act 13:48; 2Pe 1:10). When a sinner bows to Christ, trusting him as Savior and Lord, we say to him with confidence, “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee.”

Election does not keep anyone from being saved, but guarantees that some people will be saved. Were there no election of grace, there would be no salvation (Rom 9:27-29). We would not and could not choose the Lord, but he chose us; and his choice of us made our choice of him certain (Joh 15:16). Election said, “Saul of Tarsus shall be saved.” God’s merciful decree said, “Saul will be saved at noon on the Damascus Road at the day appointed.” Predestination drew the map by which Saul must travel to the appointed place of mercy. Providence led him along the predestined path to the place and hour when Christ must be revealed to him. “And it came to pass!”

2. A DIVINE REVELATION (Act 9:3; Gal 1:15-16) – Though he was chosen of God, Saul could never be saved until he was made to “see that Just One” (Act 22:14). So when it pleased God to reveal his Son in him, “suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.” He saw Christ and the glory of God in Christ (2Co 4:6). He saw the same thing that Moses saw (Exo 33:18 to Exo 34:7). He saw that Just One of whom he had heard Stephen speak (Act 7:52). He was made to see, by divine revelation, the glory of God in his absolute sovereignty, infinite grace and mercy, and inflexible justice, and he saw how that God can be both gracious and just in saving sinners by the substitutionary, blood atonement of that Just One, the Lord Jesus Christ (Psa 85:9-11; Rom 3:24-26).

Salvation comes to sinners when they are given a revelation of Christ and the glory of God in him by the Spirit’s effectual application of the gospel to their hearts. When a person sees Christ as he is and is reconciled to him in his true character he is saved.

3. A DIVINE CALL (Act 9:4-9) – There is a general call which men and women can and do resist (Mat 20:16; Mat 22:14). It goes forth indiscriminately to all who hear every time the gospel is preached. But there is an effectual call too. No one will ever be saved until he receives this effectual, irresistible call of the Holy Spirit by which helpless, totally depraved, spiritually dead sinners are brought to life and faith in Christ by the power of God (Joh 5:25; Eph 2:1-4). Holy Scripture gives us numerous illustrations of this effectual call (Eze 16:6-8; Eze 37:1-14; Joh 11:43-44; 1Co 1:26-31). Saul was one of Christ’s sheep. The time had come for the Good Shepherd to call his wandering sheep. When he calls, his sheep hear his voice and follow him (Joh 10:1-5; Joh 10:27-29).

This call of the Spirit is called the effectual call because it gets the job done (Psa 65:4; Psa 110:3). It is a personal call (Act 9:4-5). Many were present, but only Saul was called. It is a convicting call (Act 9:5). The Lord convicted Saul of his sin with the words, “Why persecutest thou me?” It is a humbling call (Act 9:6). Saul “fell to the earth,” submitting to the claims of Christ, his sovereign Lord. This call of the Spirit is also a distinguishing call (Act 9:7). The men who were with Saul saw a light, heard a voice, and were afraid. They knew something was going on, but not what. This call of grace separated and distinguished Saul from his companions (1Co 4:7). Again, the call of God is an awakening call (Act 9:6). Once he was called of God, Saul began to call upon God. Blinded now to all earthly concerns, he began to seek the Lord with an earnest heart.

For three days he was in suspense and darkness (Act 9:8-9). “He was all this time in the belly of hell, suffering God’s terrors for his sins, which were now set in order before him. He was in the dark concerning his own spiritual state, and was so wounded in spirit for sin that he could relish neither meat nor drink” (Matthew Henry).

4. A DIVINE ILLUMINATION(Act 9:17-18) – God sent a preacher to Saul who told him all the truth. Then the scales of darkness and ignorance, superstition and tradition fell off his eyes, and he received his sight. When Ananias instructed him in the way of faith (Isa 40:1-2), and he received his sight, what did he see? He saw Christ as his Substitute, God as his Father, and the Holy Spirit as his Comforter. He saw it to be his duty and his privilege to follow Christ in all things, beginning with believer’s baptism, and he did it. The will of God became the rule of his life.

5. A DIVINE CONVERSION (Act 9:18-22) – Saul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Grace converted him (Php 3:4-14). All that he once cherished he now renounced. His righteous deeds, his religious works, and his reputation as a Pharisee, he now counted to be but manure. He turned from religion to Christ. Grace turned him from a mere form of godliness to worship and serve the living God; and he was turned forever (Ecc 3:14). Immediately, he confessed Christ in believer’s baptism (Rom 6:4-6), identified himself with the despised people of God and the gospel of his grace, and became a faithful witness of Christ. He laid down his life in the cause of Christ. Grace had made him a new man (2Co 5:17). This is the way of God with men. This is the way God saves sinners: by election, revelation, calling, illumination, and conversion. He saves in this way so that man’s salvation will be to the praise of the glory of his grace. It is this experience of grace that identifies who God’s elect are (1Th 1:4-10).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Cir am 4039, ad 35

Saul: Act 9:11-13, Act 9:19-21, Act 7:58, Act 8:3, Act 22:3, Act 22:4, Act 26:9-11, 1Co 15:9, Gal 1:13, Phi 3:6, 1Ti 1:13

breathing: Psa 27:12

Reciprocal: Gen 49:27 – a wolf Jos 6:6 – Take up the ark Psa 83:4 – General Pro 16:7 – he Isa 11:4 – with the breath Isa 59:15 – he that Isa 65:25 – wolf Mat 23:34 – ye Mar 13:9 – take Luk 2:34 – and rising Luk 11:49 – and some Luk 15:5 – when Joh 16:2 – the time Act 9:13 – how Act 9:21 – destroyed Act 13:1 – and Saul Act 22:5 – also Act 22:19 – know Act 26:12 – as 1Th 2:14 – even Tit 3:3 – disobedient Heb 10:32 – ye endured 1Pe 2:23 – threatened

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

SAUL WAS STILL filled with furious, persecuting zeal when the Lord intercepted him on the road to Damascus, and revealed Himself to him in a blaze of heavenly light, which shone not only round about him but into his conscience as well. We may discern in the record the essential features which mark every true conversion. There was the light which penetrates to the conscience, the revelation of the Lord Jesus to the heart, the conviction of sin in the words, Why persecutes thou Me? and the collapse of all opposition and self-importance in the humble-words, Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? When Jesus is discovered, when the conscience is convicted of sin, when there is humble submission to Jesus as Lord, then there is a true conversion, though there is very much that the soul has yet to learn. The Lords dealings were intensely personal to Saul, for his companions, though amazed, understood nothing of what had happened.

By this tremendous revelation of the Lord, Saul was literally blinded to the world. Led into Damascus, he spent three days which he would never forget, days in which the significance of the revelation sank into his soul. Being blind, nothing distracted his mind, and his thoughts were not even turned aside to food or drink. As a preliminary to his service, Ezekiel had sat among the captives at Chebar and remained there astonished among them seven days (Eze 3:15). Saul sat astonished in Damascus for only three days, but his experiences were of a far deeper order. We may get a glimpse of them by reading 1Ti 1:12-17. He was astonished at his own colossal guilt as the chief of sinners, and even more at the exceeding abundance of the grace of the Lord, so that he obtained mercy. In those three days he evidently passed through a spiritual process of death and resurrection. The foundations were laid in his soul of that which later on he expressed thus: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal 2:20).

During the three days Saul had a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight, and at the end of them the vision materialized. Ananias arrived, doing what he was told, and telling Saul he was but the messenger of the Lord, even Jesus, and that he was not only to receive his sight but be filled with the Holy Ghost. By this time Saul was a believer, for only to believers is the Spirit given.

The essential work in Sauls soul having been accomplished, a human servant is used by the Lord. Two things about that servant are worthy of note. First, he was just a certain disciple, evidently of no special prominence. It was fitting that the only man to help Saul in any way was a very humble one. Saul had been very prominent as an adversary and was soon to be very prominent as a servant of the Lord. He was helped by a disciple who was undistinguished and retiring, yet who was near enough to the Lord to receive His instructions and hold converse with Him. It is often thus in Gods ways. Second, Ananias dwelt in Damascus, and thus was one of those against whom Saul had been breathing out threatenings and slaughter. So one of those that Saul would have murdered was sent to call him, Brother Saul, to open his eyes, and that he might be filled with the Holy Ghost. Sauls evil was requited with good in this overwhelming fashion.

Sauls days of blindness, both physical and mental, were now over: he was baptized in the Name of the One he had formerly despised and hated, and he consorted with the very people he had thought to destroy, for he had become one of them. He had been called as a chosen vessel, so straightway his service began. Jesus had been revealed to him as the Christ, and as the Son of God, so he preached Him thus and proved by the Scriptures that He was the Christ, to the confounding of his former friends.

The friends however speedily became his bitter foes and took counsel to kill him, even as not long before he had thought to kill the saints. He had anticipated entering Damascus with some measure of pomp as the plenipotentiary of the hierarchy in Jerusalem. Actually, he entered as a humbled and blinded man; and he left it in undignified fashion, huddled in a basket, as a fugitive from Jewish hate.

From the outset Saul had thus to taste for himself the very things he had been inflicting upon others. Arrived back in Jerusalem, he was distrusted by the disciples, as was very natural, and the intervention of Barnabas was needed before they received him. Barnabas could vouch for the Lords intervention and his conversion, and he acted as his letter of commendation. In Jerusalem he witnessed boldly and came into conflict with the Grecians, possibly the very men who had been so responsible in the matter of Stephens death. Now they would slay the man who held the clothes of those that slew Stephen. In all this we can see the working of the government of God. The fact, that the Lord had shown such amazing mercy in his conversion, did not exempt him from reaping in this governmental way that which he had sown.

Threatened again with death, Saul had to depart to Tarsus, his native city. It may be wondered where came in that visit to Arabia, of which he writes in Gal 1:17. We think it was probably during the many days, of which verse Act 9:23 of our chapter speaks, for he tells us that he returned again to Damascus. If this is so, the flight from Damascus over the wall took place after his return from Arabia. Be that as it may, it was his departure to distant Tarsus that inaugurated the period of rest and edification for the churches, which led to a multiplication of their numbers.

In verse Act 9:32 we return to the activities of Peter, that we may see that the Spirit of God had not ceased to work through him while working so powerfully elsewhere. There had been, first, a great work in Lydda through the raising up of the palsied man. Then at Joppa Peter was used to bring Dorcas to life, and this led to many in that town believing on the Lord. It also led to Peter making a lengthy stay there in the house of Simon a tanner.

Meanwhile also the Spirit of God had been at work in the heart of Cornelius the Roman centurion, as the fruit of which he was marked by piety and the fear of God, with almsgiving and prayer to God. The time had now come to bring this man and his like-minded friends into the light of the Gospel. Now to Peter had been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 16:19), so just as he had used the keys on the day of Pentecost to admit the election from among the Jews, now it is his to admit this election from among the Gentiles. This chapter has recounted how God called and converted the man who was to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, the next tells how Peter was delivered from his prejudices and led to open the door of faith to the Gentiles, thus paving the way for subsequent ministry of the Apostle Paul.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus

Act 9:1-3

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

We have read, how, years ago, an outstanding infidel felt that if the Resurrection of Christ, and the Conversion of Saul could be demonstrated to be false, no more than a hoax-then, the foundation stones of Christianity would be destroyed. In trying to establish, however, that Saul of Tarsus was never converted, he discovered that the historicity of the Bible account of his conversion was unimpeachable, and he, himself, became converted.

In our treatment of the Bible story of Saul’s conversion, we call your attention, at the outset, to a phase of the salvation of this great persecutor, which many have overlooked.

I. THE FINAL STRUGGLE OF A SOUL AGAINST GOD (Act 9:1; Act 9:5)

We accept Act 9:5 as an illumination of Act 9:1. Saul, was kicking against the pricks. That is, God was prodding Saul’s consciousness with a call to be saved; more and more Saul was being convinced of the error of his ways, and of the genuineness of the Christians’ Christ; however, the more he was convinced the more stubbornly did he fight against God and the saints.

Now mark the significance of the words, “And Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter.” He was yet doing it; he was doing it yet. His “breathings” were heavier, and louder, but they were only the “breathings” that precede collapse. Saul was about to succumb. The end of his self-life was near, and he was about to enter into a new life in Christ Jesus.

Had you approached him, as Saul went to the authorities seeking letters of commission to bring the saints of Damascus bound to Jerusalem, and had you said, “Saul, these Christians are not fanatics following some strange god; they are truly saved, and their Christ is the Jehovah God; under whose banner you profess to fight.” Had you so ap-preached Saul, he would have utterly denied the truth, of your words.

However, it was true that Saul, with stubborn will, and hardened heart, was beginning to realize that he was fighting against God. The things which were happening every day, and which had been happening for some time were making great inroads on Saul’s convictions concerning the Christ.

Why, then, did Saul yet breathe out threatenings and slaughter? Why did his antagonism against the Christians increase?

We believe that his actions were the result of a strongly prejudiced soul, unwilling to admit its sin. Saul had long boasted his goodness. Concerning the Law he was blameless. He had lived according to the strictest sect of the Jews. He was a devotee of the Jews’ religion. He was a Pharisee. He had much in the flesh in which to boast. He was an old-fashioned, Judaistic Jew. He also had much, personally, to gain by following along the line of the orthodox faith, and much to lose by following Christ.

In persecuting saints, Saul was putting himself in line of promotion among the religionists of his day. In fighting Christ, he was paving his way to Sanhedrin honors. To his youthful mind, the Christian confession could mean, to him nothing but disaster. Socially, religiously, and financially it behoved Saul to stand in with the “powers” in Israel.

Therefore, against the encroachments of the new faith gripping his own soul, he fought with madness. He argued to himself that the old established Judaism, must be right, because the scribes and Pharisees followed in its wake. He had himself sat at Gamaliel’s feet; and education mocked the new faith in Christ.

At first, Saul verily thought he was doing the will of God. While he was plainly feathering his own nest, he tried to convince himself that he was likewise fighting error, and fanaticism, and helping to put down a most dangerous foe to a religious system that had grown up during the centuries with a history of Divine favor and revelation that had marked it as Divine. Saul counted that he was standing with God, because he stood in the line of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. He argued that the God of the Prophets and of David, was his God.

Over the other hand, Saul contended that Christ was antagonistic to the fathers, and to the God of the fathers. Saul had followed under Gamaliel’s instruction, the whole course of Jewish history, and he had unshaken faith in the God who had brought Israel out of Egypt, and had established her in the land of promise.

Blinded as he was, Saul never once saw in Christ the complement of all that the fathers had believed. He knew not that Christ was the very fulfilment of the prophecies of Holy Writ. He knew not that Abraham had seen Christ’s day and had exulted. He knew not that Moses had lived and died looking toward the recompense which the Advent of Christ would bring. He knew not that David had always had before his face the Coming of the very Christ whom he now hated.

To be sure Saul knew the Prophets and believed the Prophets. He knew that the Messiah was to come. However Saul had utterly repudiated the One who had come, was the Messiah. He was caught in the sweep of rabbinical prejudices. He was carried along by the sway of popular religious resentment against the Nazarene.

At the stoning of Stephen, Saul had kept the clothes of the men who slew the great apologist. He was consenting to his death. His vote was in favor of the martyrdom of the man who was filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom.

Now, as he started along the way to Damascus, he was, himself, leading the crowd against the Christians.

II. THE GOADS THAT PRICKED (Act 9:5)

We wonder if we can follow somewhat, at least, the very happenings that goaded Saul with the growing conviction that he was fighting against God. We may be able to discover some of them-let us see.

1. The shining of a martyr’s face. We mentioned this in a former sermon, and will not now dwell upon it. However, there was something that Saul of Tarsus could not explain. The sublimity of Stephen’s faith, mirrored in his shining countenance, as he died-triumphant death, never left Saul-nor could Saul comprehend the meaning of Stephen’s words, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” Saul could not understand the spirit that could lead a dying martyr to say, “Lay not this sin to their charge.”

All in all, Saul found it impossible to rub that scene from his memory. Here was one of the “goads” that pricked him.

2. The serene sublimity of the faith of many Christians. Saul was playing havoc with the Churches. He was entering into homes here and there, and dragging out Christians whom he committed to prison. Their quiet mien, their willingness to suffer for Christ’s sake; the songs that the Christians sang in the night, all gave token to the reality of their faith. Saul could not reason through these witnesses to saving and keeping power.

Saul knew that the Christians possessed something that he and his co-religionists did not possess. There was an unseen hand that guided them. They manifested a joy, and love, and peace, that was altogether foreign to Saul’s comprehension.

These formed an added goad, which pricked Saul of Tarsus.

3. The members of his own family who had been saved. Among those who had received the Lord Jesus, were Andronicus and Junia, Saul’s kinsmen. These were in Christ before him, and they were of note among the Apostles. In addition there was another kinsman of Saul, named Herodian, who may have been saved before Saul was saved. The faith and prayers of these kinsmen were another goad to prick Saul. It was impossible for Saul to shake off their pleas and their prayers. He no doubt resisted them, and they perhaps felt that they had made no impression on their youthful and brilliant relative. But God knew better. Out-wardly Saul was always on the offensive against Christ, hut inwardly he was weakening in his sincerity as an antagonist.

III. SAUL’S GRANDSTAND PLAY (Act 9:2)

Saul had gone to the high priest and had “desired of him letters to Damascus to the Synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

This was Saul’s final stroke. With the sounding of trumpets and the glitter of swords, he had started off. Fighting against God, he went on his way. He went smouldering an ever-increasing fire of conviction, that he was wrong, Mid the glamor and glare of a professed persecutor, he was himself almost ready to become the persecuted. No one knew this but God and himself. The saints at Damascus, including Ananias, had heard that he was on the way to Damascus. They naturally feared his coming. They felt that he was without heart, and sympathy. He wielded against them the sword that knew no pity and no remorse.

Thus Saul journeyed on, a peer among persecutors. He journeyed on to honor and to fame. He journeyed on a vassal of Satan. The chief priest and the rulers in the Jews’ religion felt that, in Saul, they had a trusted and invincible ally. The devil felt that, in Saul, his own cause was safe.

There was, however, another eye that watched that ruthless march. Christ looked down. He knew every emotion of the thoughts of Saul’s heart. He knew the pricking goads, that were piercing him.

What did God see in that grandstand play? He saw a man kicking against the pricks. He saw a man unwilling to yield? Yes, but God saw more. He saw a man, who, once fully convinced, would be willing to count all but loss for Christ. He saw an intrepid worker; a servant, panoplied to pray as valiantly as he had formerly fought. He saw a missionary who through fire and flood, undaunted would continue faithful to the end. Christ saw in Saul, saved and sanctified in Christ Jesus, a man who would never flutter a flag of truce.

That young man, before he was born, was chosen of God, That young man, from his mother’s womb was called by God’s grace. God had environed him, and led him in a way that would finally perfect him as a warrior of the Cross, mighty in word and in deed.

Thus it was, that while others marked the grandstand-play, the march of a seemingly tyrannical foe; God watched the march of a man kicking under a growing and deepening conviction that he was wrong, all wrong. God saw that the hour for the last needed goad had come.

As he marched on his way, what questions were throbbing in Saul’s brain. He must have been asking himself, “Why did Stephen’s face shine?” Or, “I wonder if Stephen was under an hallucination when he said that he saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand?” “I wonder where these Christians get their power to sing as they die?” “They count it all joy to suffer for their faith. Why?” Saul was asking himself, “Can it be that I am wrong?” “Am I fighting against God?”

Thus the stage play was not all a roseate scene. There were misgivings and questionings and fears. Then, the unexpected came to pass.

IV. THE MIRACULOUS LIGHT AND VOICE (Act 9:3)

God knew just when and how to give the final prick of the goad. Read Act 9:3 : “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.”

The light shone suddenly, but the steps that led up to this great demonstration of glory, took many days. Conversion itself is sudden, but, not so, the conviction of sin, and the process of preparation of mind and heart that lead to climactic and regenerating faith.

Before the light of life breaks on the soul, the soul must be made ready for the light just as the soil is made ready for the seed.

God’s light shining down on Saul of Tarsus came to dispel his darkness. It came as a great illumination, enforcing the Deity of Christ. Saul had been a conscience-stricken, but conscientious objector to the Lord’s Christ. He had had some glimmerings of light, but he was still walking in the shadows. He must have felt that his way might be wrong, that his persecutions might be unjust, but he was not sure-he was endeavoring to shut out the light, In giving this unusual demonstration, God had a twofold purpose. First, God was, by His grace, doing that which He deemed right in order to save from death a great soul, struggling in the mist of doubt. Secondly, God was doing to an individual, what He is yet to do to a race. Of this second dealing-the far-flung meaning of Saul’s conversion we will give a later sermon.

Just now we insist that every soul is in need of light. He may complain, alleging that God, today, does not give so great and so miraculous a light to the multitudes of the unsaved who walk in darkness. That is not true. The darkness may not comprehend the light, but a light of accumulative power is shining today upon all men. We who live in the twentieth century have the light of a completed Gospel, and of a ripened spiritual ministry. We have the light of two millenniums of Christian living and service. We have the light of thousands of sermons, that illuminate the glory of Christ, and set forth the efficacy of the Cross.

No man living today dare complain that Saul of Tarsus was given more light than he has received. For, in addition to the light that Saul had (for that light still shines); we have Paul’s ministry, and messages, and much more besides.

V. THE PROSTRATION OF A PROUD SPIRIT (Act 9:4)

“And he fell to the earth.” We have long since discovered that the way to get up, is getting down; that humiliation is the pathway to exaltation. The broken and the contrite heart, God will not despise. If some one objects that Saul did not willingly humble himself-that God forcefully struck him down, we agree, but with this reservation, that when God struck Saul down, Saul, succumbed, and willingly yielded the now flickering torch, of his selfish pride.

Saul certainly could have stiffened his neck against the light of God. That Saul received the Lord with open heart and mind is seen in the aftermath. The falling form of the proud persecutor, was the beginning of his rising into a new life in Christ Jesus.

The Lord Jesus followed Saul’s collapse, with a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”

Perhaps, had Saul sought to justify his evil course, he might have answered with many words. Saul might have said some such things as these:

“I persecute You, because the men Who sit in Moses’ seat, and the men who stand at the head of the religious system which has a record of antiquity and of direct Divine revelation, are solidly against You.”

“I persecute You because I love my nation, and revere the memory of the fathers, and You have bitterly condemned my nation and its rulers. You entered into the Temple and drove out our money-changers with a whip of cords. You called the scribes and Pharisees, ‘hypocrites,’ ‘a generation of vipers who could not escape the damnation of hell.'”

“I persecute You because I see in Your teachings the collapse of many cherished customs, which rabbinical lore have fastened upon our nation.”

“I persecute You because You have prophesied the downfall and collapse of our nation. You have said that our House is left unto us desolate; You have said that our Temple shall be thrown down; and that a great tribulation awaits our nation, greater than any the world has ever known.”

Saul might have said some such things, but he did not. He certainly had been drilled in some such conceptions. The High Priest, and the rabbi, with whom Saul associated, had no end of seemingly good arguments against the Lord Jesus Christ. They fought back, like tigers, against the accusations of Peter and the Apostles that they had been the murderers of the Son of God. They sought from every possible viewpoint, to justify all that they, in their villainy had done. And, Saul of Tarsus followed in their train. He had stood with them, and for them, and against all that opposed them.

What did Saul now do? First, he trembled. A fear gripped his soul. His mouth was shut. He found no words with which to justify himself. He had come to the end of his own road. He trembled because Heaven had stopped him in his mad career.

An angel blocked the progress of Balaam, yet Balaam had justified himself, and had gone on his way to Balac. Not so with Saul of Tarsus. He was too genuine a soul to do as Balaam had done. His very fiber was integrity itself. He had always lived an intensive, honorable life. He trembled because a tremendous conviction was gripping his soul. He began to see himself, a dupe of prejudice, swayed by darkening unbelief.

Not alone did Saul tremble, he was astonished. God was revealing two things, simultaneously to Saul-first, the Son of God was being revealed; and secondly the sin of his own heart was being revealed.

Saul never forgot that hour. He never forgot the trembling and the astonishment of his own soul, when that light shone in.

Would that some one had the gift to give us, to see ourselves as God doth see us!

What astonishment would be the sinner’s if he could see the glory of the Person of Christ on the one hand, and the shame of his own life on the other hand!

In our next sermon we will consider the question, which Saul asked, “Who art Thou, Lord?”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

1

Act 9:1. Breathing out is from EMPNEO and is defined, “to breathe in or on.” When a person has a “bad breath” it is supposed to come from some undesirable condition within his body. It is used to illustrate the attitude and conduct of Saul towards the disciples. His mental breath was com- ing from a mind filled with desire to persecute them. He went unto the high priest because he was the president of the Sanhedrin, which was the highest court allowed the Jews.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

The Damascus Journey of Saul, 1, 2.

Act 9:1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. The narrative is here taken up again from chap. Act 8:3, where we left the young Pharisee Saul making havock of the Church. Some months at least had probably elapsed, during which period the events related in the Acts of Philip the Deacon, chap, 8, took place. The work of persecution had been actively carried on in the city and adjacent districts, and now the chief inquisitor Saul, to use his own words (chap. Act 26:11), being exceedingly mad against the followers of Jesus, determined to search them out and exterminate them in districts and cities far remote from Jerusalem. His tone of mind at the time is graphically described by the writer of the Acts in the words, Saul, breathing out; or more accurately breathing, not merely threatening, but in his blind rage even death against them. Menace and slaughter constituted at this period of his life the vital air which he exhaled and inhaled.

Went unto the high priest. The great Sanhedrim claimed and exercised over the Jews in foreign countries supreme power in religious questions. The high priest in this case, as frequently, though not invariably, was president of the Sanhedrim. His name is not certainly known, as the exact date of this mission of Saul is doubtful, and the high-priestly office was much interfered with by the Roman government at this time. We read of Jonathan, the son of Annas, and his brother Theophilus in turn, during the years 37, 38, enjoying this high dignity, from which the famous Caiaphas had been deposed A. D. 36. But the real power now, as at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, was in the hands of Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was regarded by the nation as the legitimate high priest.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Subdivision 3. (Act 9:1-30.)

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ.

In perfect order of development, we are now to see the conversion of the apostle of the Gentiles; who receives grace and apostleship front the ascended Lord. We have noticed already the connection between Stephen’s witness and that of Paul. In Stephen Israel has definitely rejected the Messiah, and thus put from her the blessing to be brought in by Him; the blessing for the earth at large being identified with that of the earthly people. But God has other and higher purposes, -the display of a fuller grace which shall both stoop lower and lift up higher. Man having been thoroughly shown out, not merely impotent and rebellions under law, but in the cross of Christ the mind of the flesh being manifested as enmity against God, He will now act for Himself, to display Himself; and since He is Love, it must be in love that He is displayed, -love in answer to enmity; which is, therefore, grace: of which the messenger is in himself also the perfect exponent. Saul has shared in the national sin of Christ’s rejection, is of the party that could be quoted as to an individual in opposition to Him (Joh 7:48), was in agreement with the murder of Stephen, and is only roused by it to greater violence; he is the apostle of Jewish malignity, pursuing the disciples even to strange cities, at the very time when he is smitten down by the light from an open heaven, and transformed from the persecutor of Christ into His most devoted follower, -ever afterwards the apostle of the grace that has transformed him. Here, where there could:be no possible thought of claim, heaven, closed to man’s righteousness, opens to its central, infinite glory, to display in the midst of it, whence the light came, the One whom as yet Saul knew not, but who identified Himself with His suffering saints on earth. The gospel of the glory of Christ was henceforth his gospel.

It is evident that here the meaning of Stephen’s radiant face is now made plain. Heaven is really opened, -a Man gone in there, but occupying a place that no mere man could occupy. Paul preaches Him from the first, that He is the Son of God (ver. 20). Yet he sees Him none the less the Representative of His people, and the bringing men to see and fill their place in Him is henceforth to be his effort, -that for which the Spirit of God has taken him up and uses him. We may not find it come fully out in the Acts, but the necessary first consequence is that Jew and Gentile have no more any separate standing. It is not a Christ after the flesh that he sees, but a Christ in heaven; and that is not the place of a Jew’s blessings, nor one from which, if grace bestow it, he can exclude the Gentile. The apostle of the Gentiles is here prepared.

1. Grace is the foundation of all, -free, sovereign grace. Of what use his privileges as a Jew to one taken red-handed on his mission of blood, as Saul is now! It is not a mere repentant sinner suing for and finding mercy. He is an enemy, when as such he is reconciled to God. Legality is an impossibility to one in his position. He cannot dream of any of those half-gospels with which men delude themselves first, and then their hearers. He, at least, had not done his best, save to be lost. His Pharisaism tumbled in one rag-heap at his feet, his cry was now that he was “chief of sinners;” and under no legal system whatever could the chief of sinners possibly have hope. But he, met and conquered by divine love, was given no room to dishonor it by a single question. And “in me,” he says, “did Christ Jesus show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on Him, to life everlasting.” (1Ti 1:16). Thus was Paul’s doctrine prepared for him at the start; and he also, even in his unconverted state, for it.

“Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church,” was Paul’s own account afterwards of the state in which divine grace found him (Php 3:6). It did not alter his conviction that he was the chief of sinners; “the least of the apostles,” he says elsewhere, and “not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God” (1Co 15:9). A man’s religion may be the worst thing about him; and his sincerity in it will not hinder its effect upon him, but rather make it the more sure. In this case, how solemn to realize that Saul’s religion was zealous law-keeping; the law being that which God Himself had given: it was one of Moses, disciples, of whom they could rightly say, “We know that God spake by Moses,” who was in that character attacking Christ!

“Touching the righteousness of the law, blameless;” this is another thing that, looking back at himself with full Christian enlightenment, he says of his unconverted state. That was what his conscience said: it did not condemn or accuse him; and that was undoubtedly what in his case made him the zealous persecutor that he was: he had a zeal for God and for that law under which he had fared so well, and deserved so well of Him who gave it! Thus all that seemed so favorable in Saul’s case was what was most against him: his own good character, his zeal for law, and, as he allows with regard to his nation at large, his zeal for God even (Act 22:3); and that God was the true God, not a false one: whom yet he was bitterly against, and knew it not, and who was therefore, in so far, against him, even while He pursued in His love this zealous antagonist. What confusion is here! And this is the confusion which springs out of all self-justifying efforts: “for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God “(Rom 10:3). Paul will tell us himself in his first epistle, how the scales fell from his eyes in this respect. At present it is with the consequences that God faces him; and on the road to Damascus he suddenly finds himself smitten down by the light of a glory shining in the face of Him against whom the full current of his legal prejudices, with his traditionalism and his strong passion for his nation, all combined to carry him.

It is striking that, while we know from Paul’s own statements afterwards, and even from the words of Ananias to him in the present chapter, that Jesus Himself appeared to him, we hear in this first account only of the Light and of the Voice; light out of heaven, in which, certainly for the first time, he stood revealed to himself; a Voice along with it, which fastened his eyes upon himself, even then to raise with himself the question, rather than to accuse, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?”

There could, of course, be no answer. Under the power of that glory which had transfigured Stephen, the very throb of the heart must have been hushed, called to expectant stillness in the presence of God. No need for answer! Had he not helped to batter out that glory from a human face with stones? Now a Human Voice from the midst of that glory was appealing to him, claiming these persecuted ones as His own -Himself! Yet he is drawn, -not repelled. Even now he can seek from Him who is speaking the anticipated answer which condemns -but HE has not condemned -him: “Who art Thou, Lord?” And the Royal Voice answers, “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.”

Thus they come together -Lord and follower; never to be separated more! How grand and wonderful is the simplicity of it all! The chief of sinners and the Lord of saints come together in a manner which has cost how great a price to effect; and the grace shown is as implicit as it wakes up implicit confidence to receive it. Has not this smitten sinner been in the outshining glory of God, unsmitten? -in the radiance shining on Stephen himself? There are other accounts, but they do not alter this; one can only say, the grace of it is perfect: and when we learn that he is to be the teacher of grace to others, we realize how completely fitted for such a purpose is that of which the history is recorded here. But it is the same grace which meets all of us.

We can see too, that the identification of Christ with His people is here, which is to be developed on two sides, as “ye in Me and I in you.” And in this Jew and Gentile disappear, and the way for the mystery of the Church is prepared. Heaven is opened: God has come out to men; and Man -how glorious a MAN! -has gone in to God. Who that knows what was committed to Paul to teach us, but must see how the Pauline truths begin to appear in Paul’s conversion? We must not expect to reach their development in the Acts; and it is not yet, therefore, the time to follow their development. We must wait for Romans, Ephesians, Corinthians, Hebrews, to have the working out.

The words that follow, in the common version, this declaration of Himself upon the Lord’s part are borrowed from the other accounts of what is here. Luke gives us in this place only the direction to the new disciple to enter into the city, and there it shall he told him what he is to do. The men accompanying him stand speechless, hearing the sound of the voice, but nothing more; the significance is for Paul. He on the other hand remains blinded by the light, and has to be led by the hand into Damascus; in which condition he continues three days without food or drink. He needs this, doubtless, for the tempest aroused within him to subside, -for the review of the now terrible past, and the realization of the new beginning. The resurrection number may well have its significance here in the apprehension of the old things now for him passed away, and all things become new. Shut up in darkness, amid his now uncongenial associates, he is made to realize his entire dependence upon God to bring him forth, and to accomplish in him the purposes of His marvellous grace.

2. We have now a lovely picture of the free intimacy between our Lord and His disciples in those yet unclouded days of early freshness. Saul is to take his place among the followers of the Crucified in the lowly way of baptism at the hands of those who had preceded him as such. A disciple named Ananias (“Jah has shown grace”) is chosen by the Lord for the introduction of Saul. He is simply termed a “disciple,” and yet is chosen, not only for the administration of baptism, which is in keeping with all that we have elsewhere in relation to this, but also for that which at Samaria just now required a special visit of apostles from Jerusalem -the communication of the Spirit. We have not yet come to this, however, here; but simply to consider the choice of Ananias to minister in the way we see him do to one designed to be the special apostle of the Gentiles. In Paul we see, as he himself declares to us, any Jewish thought of succession from the original twelve broken through. Paul is an “apostle, not of men, nor through man;” and on this account confers not with flesh and blood, nor even goes up to Jerusalem in the first place, to those who were apostles before him, but to Arabia, to the “backside of the desert” (Gal 1:16-17). The living and abiding Spirit is to be Himself the Source of supply; and the warrant for what is said is, first of all, the truth of it, intertwining with, confirmed by and confirming, all that is truth elsewhere.

Ananias is therefore, as a simple disciple, all the more suited to be sent to Saul; and the Lord accordingly appears to him in a vision, bidding him go and seek in the house of Judas this man who has seen him in a vision, in answer to his prayer, laying his hands upon him, that he may receive his sight. Thus he who is to be in such a large and blessed way, the minister to others is to learn himself, first of all, his own need of ministry, and to receive it. How suited a messenger must this Ananias, with his significant name have seemed to the thankful and humbled man! “Grace” was, indeed, his new found joy. But Saul’s reputation has gone before him, and Ananias shrinks from his task, and ventures even to remonstrate with his Lord. Do we, who perhaps wonder at his foolish faint-heartedness, never imitate it, and reason with Omniscient Love as to His ways with us? But the Lord replies by letting him know that Saul was a chosen vessel unto Him, to bear His Name in testimony of the widest range, -to Gentiles and to Jews both; but the Gentiles here come before the Jews. That which he is to suffer also is proportioned to the breadth of his testimony; to bear the Name of Jesus implies suffering; witness and martyr are to be the same word.

3. There can be no more demur, but Ananias departs upon his errand; and entering the house, lays his hands upon Saul, acquainting him with his commission. It is remarkable that Ananias here joins his being filled with the Spirit as that for which he is sent, while yet it is not mentioned when, or in connection with what, Saul receives the Spirit. With Jews, as having openly rejected Christ, the order elsewhere was that they owned him in baptism, by which they received public remission of their sins, and then they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost nothing is said of the laying on of hands for this, which is first recorded as done in Samaria; but at Ephesus also John’s disciples are first baptized, and then they still wait for the Spirit until Paul’s hands are laid upon them. In the case of Cornelius and his friends, there is no previous baptism, and no laying on of hands at all. Was there any laying on of hands for this by Ananias? Two things would argue for it, -the words of Ananias himself, and the case of John’s disciples. On the other hand, on the imposition of hands all we hear of as following is the healing of Saul’s blindness; there is nothing said of the Spirit being given at that time; nor of any imposition of hands at a later time. The insistence upon baptism first in the case of the Jew seems likewise against it though the apostle of the Gentiles is so exceptional a case, and seems so to reflect the gospel that he carries, and the change in regard to the Gentile is so marked, that one is inclined to read his saying, “Christ sent me not to baptize,” back into his own history here. In this unsatisfactory way, it seems, we have to leave it.

“Filled with the Holy Spirit,” however, he is indeed; immediately preaching in the synagogues to which his letters of authorization are addressed that very Jesus, whose followers he is commissioned to destroy. He preaches Him also as yet the twelve, as far as the history goes, have not done, in the very character in which Israel had rejected Him, as Son of God. This is the fullest reversal of his own mad unbelief, and the completest challenge of that of Israel. The missionary of their own enmity is suddenly become the very champion of the “Way” he persecuted. Astonishment, which for the moment must have been dismay, falls upon those who hear him and know that which has wrought this change; to which his companions on the road could but bear witness as far as that strange interruption of their journey was realized by them. And Saul increased more and more in strength, and confounded the Jews dwelling at Damascus, proving that the One whom he confessed was indeed the Christ.

The preaching of Jesus as the Son of God we should naturally have expected to have heard in the first place from the lips of John, whose writings are, as we know, so full of this. In Paul’s epistles, if Hebrews is, as I doubt not, to be included among these; we have the Lord spoken of in this character twenty-nine times; but in John’s epistles (of only seven chapters) there are twenty-three occurrences. In one passage alone in the rest of the General Epistles, where Peter quotes the Voice from the “excellent glory” (2Pe 1:17), do we find this title; this, although Peter is in the Gospels the first of the inspired writers to own Christ openly in this way. The kinship between Paul and John is thus plainly declared. The connection with Paul’s doctrines we must consider later, as we take up his epistles.

4. The visit to Arabia, of which the epistle to the Galatians speaks, takes place evidently during those “many days” at the end of which the persecution breaks out, in which first Saul has to taste of the same cup of which he had been compelling others to drink in the dark days forever ended. At first the wonder of his conversion had discomfited the adversaries; but this naturally terminates in a violent reaction on the part of those who have not been brought by it to God; and now they join together in a plot to slay him: but He who in so extraordinary a way had brought him to Himself had no intention of leaving him in the hands of his enemies. The plot became known to Saul; and the gates being watched day and night, the disciples let him down in a basket through a window in the wall by night, and he escapes their hands.

So ends Saul’s testimony at Damascus; nor is he rescued by a miracle from the death designed for him, but escapes in a lowly manner enough, more suited to the way of the Cross which he had begun to tread. It is but the beginning of those many sufferings which the Lord had said that He would show him that he was to endure for His sake. The Glory which was henceforth his guiding star did not light up the earth for him, but drew him out of it. His was to be in a peculiar sense a heavenly testimony, and the power of it that by which the world was crucified to him, and he unto the world.

Driven from Damascus, Saul goes up to Jerusalem, according to his own statement to see Peter (Gal 1:18); for what purpose we are not told; but he abode there only fifteen days. Although three years had elapsed from the time of his conversion, the report of it which had reached the disciples there had yet found no credit in the scene of his former “ravages” upon the flock of Christ. In Arabia he had been for some time probably away from observation, and his recent testimony again in Damascus seems not to have been known. Thus when he essayed to join himself to those whom he had helped to scatter, and who had, no doubt, many of them, vivid remembrances of those unhappy days, there was a general recoil. “They were all afraid of him, not believing him to be a disciple.” At this juncture the future companion of his labors,Barnabas, appears as mediator. He took and brought him to the apostles; that is, as Paul himself tells us, to Peter and James, the Lord’s brother, and represents to them the whole matter. The cloud is cleared away, and Saul remains with them going in and out at Jerusalem, and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

He takes up now the work of the first martyr, disputing with the Hellenistic Jews, who go to work to give him Stephen’s portion; but in an ecstasy (Act 22:17-18) the Lord appears to him, and bids him depart from the city, assuring him that they will not hear his testimony, and that he is to be sent far off to the Gentiles. The brethren thereupon bring him down to Caesarea on the sea-coast, and send him forth to Tarsus, his native city. There for awhile we leave him.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Observe here, 1. The lively character of a bloody persecutor: He breathes threatenings and slaughter against the members of Christ. His very breath smells of fire; threatenings and slaughter, like lightnings and thunder, proceed out of his mouth. Whilst a persecutor hath in him the breath of his own life, he breathes nothing but death against others: Nothing will satisfy him but the death and destruction of the members of Christ. An indiscreet and ungovernable zeal soon egenerates into fury and madness.

Observe, 2. How restless and unwearied persecutors are in the prosecution of their bloody designs and purposes. Saul was now inquisitor haretica pravitatis: away he trots to the high priest for commission to bind heretics, who believed on Jesus, and opposed the traditions of the fathers; and having, as he thought, swept Jerusalem of saints, he resolved next to ransack Damascus, though it was five or six days journey from Jerusalem: However he spurs on, away he goes through fire and water to revenge his malice on the poor members of Jesus Christ. The high priest needed not to hire Saul to do his black work, he both offers himself, and sues for the office: No doubt the high priest and council highly applauded his zeal and towardness for extirpating heretics, commending the gallantry of his resolution, and the bravery of his mind; and having scaled his commission, sent him away with wishes of success.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Seeing the Light on the Damascus’ Road

Saul not only persecuted the church in Jerusalem, but even went to foreign cities to carry out his vicious persecution. Bruce presents some evidence that the Jews had a treaty with the Romans which allowed them the privilege of extradition (1 Maccabees 15:15-21). It may have been under this right, to seek out any “pestilent fellows” that had fled from their country, that the high priest wrote letters to send with Saul to Damascus. Specifically, Saul was authorized to seek out those who followed “the Way,” which was a means of designating those who followed Christ during Luke’s day ( Act 16:17 ; Act 18:24-28 ; Act 19:9 ; Act 19:23 ; Act 22:4 ; Act 24:14 ; Act 24:22 ). When he found either men or women who followed that belief, he was authorized to take them in bonds to Jerusalem.

Saul’s journey was interrupted by a great light coming down from heaven and shining around him. Since this occurred at midday, the light must have been very great. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Naturally, he had to ask who was speaking. Then, he heard, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Clearly, the Lord was saying to persecute his followers is to persecute him. Knowing he had persecuted the followers of Jesus, Saul trembled and asked what he must do. The Lord said, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Saul’s travelling companions seem to have heard a sound but were unable to understand the words spoken (compare Joh 12:28-29 ; Act 22:9 ). Though they all had fallen to the ground ( Act 26:14 ), they “stood,” or existed, in a state of speechlessness. When Saul got up, he was blind, so his friends had to lead him by the hand into the city. For three days, he prayed and fasted, unwilling, or unable, to take food because of the tremendous shock he had received on the Damascus’ road ( Act 9:1-9 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Act 9:1-2. And Saul, yet (, adhuc, hitherto, or still) breathing out threatenings and slaughter This very emphatical expression refers to what is related of Saul, Act 8:3; (where see the note;) and it shows that his zeal against the followers of Christ was so outrageous that he could be satisfied with nothing less than their utter destruction. It shows too, that the Jews were now at liberty to put them to death; probably, as Macknight observes, because between the removal of Pontius Pilate, and the accession of Herod Agrippa, in the second year of the Emperor Claudius, who gave him all the dominions of his grandfather, Herod the Great, there was no procurator in Judea to restrain their intemperate zeal. Saul, therefore, being thus freed from restraint, and at liberty to pursue his malicious design of endeavouring to effect their extirpation; went to the high-priest Whom he knew to be much exasperated against them; and desired of him letters to Damascus It is generally supposed that Caiaphas now filled the office of high-priest; and if so, as he was an inveterate enemy of Christ, and had a principal hand in his crucifixion, he would doubtless be glad to employ so active and bigoted a zealot as Saul in carrying on the persecution against them, which at this time was very violent and severe. To the synagogues From this, and from Act 9:20 th, where Paul is said to preach Christ at Damascus in the synagogues of the Jews, it appears there were more than one in that city, as there were also in divers other cities of the Gentiles. These synagogues, it seems, had a jurisdiction over their own members, in the exercise of which, however, they were sometimes directed, as on this occasion, by the high-priest and council at Jerusalem. At this time Damascus was full of Jews. Indeed, being the capital city of Syria, it generally abounded with them; so much so, that Josephus assures us ten thousand of them were once massacred there in one hour; and at another time, eighteen thousand with their wives and children. (Joseph. Bell., lib. 2. cap. 20; and lib. 7. cap. 8.) Now in a place which so much abounded with Jews, it is very likely there would be some Christians. Probably, indeed, some of those whom persecution had driven from Jerusalem had taken refuge there, and by their zeal and diligence had been instrumental in making converts to the faith of Christ. If so, it must have exceedingly vexed Saul to find that his endeavours to extirpate Christianity only tended to spread it the more, and to increase the number of those who embraced it. This, of course, would the more inflame his rage against Christs disciples, and excite him to make still greater efforts to destroy them, and exterminate their religion. Be this as it may, understanding that there were Christians at Damascus, although it was at a great distance from Jerusalem, he resolved to go thither, with his new commission from the high-priest; that if he found any there of this way Any of the Christian community; whether they were men or women For he and his employers spared no age or sex; he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem To be proceeded against in the severest manner by the sanhedrim. He was not content with having driven many of them into exile, and with having imprisoned others, (Act 8:3,) but he thirsted for their blood. And, as he was joined by assistants equally bigoted and furious with himself, the news of their coming reached Damascus before they arrived, and greatly terrified the saints, Act 9:14; Act 9:21. The Lord, however, marvellously interposed for their deliverance, and probably in answer to their united and fervent prayers; but in a way which, it is likely, none of them had thought of.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

IX: 1, 2. These is a sudden transition in our narrative at this point, and it assumes more the character of a biography. The writers of sacred history, in both Testaments, devote the greater part of their space to biographical sketches. The greater familiarity of the masses of the people with such portions of the Bible fully attests the wisdom of this course. This familiarity is the result of a deeper impression made upon the heart, and, consequently, upon the memory. We accept it, therefore, thankfully, that Luke, in his sketch of apostolic labors, was directed to record, somewhat connectedly, the labors of Paul, rather than detached sketches from the lives of all the apostles. What is lost to our curiosity in reference to the other apostles is far overbalanced by the more thrilling effect of a continuous personal narrative. This effect is all the more thrilling, from the selection of him, who, among all the apostles, was in labors most abundant.

Saul has already been introduced to the reader in the account of Stephen’s martyrdom. By the aid of his own subsequent statements concerning himself, we are able to trace his history to a still earlier period. The early education and ancestral remembrances of a man have much to do in forming his character and shaping his career. Those of Saul were calculated to thrust him into the very scenes in which he first figures in history. He was born in the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia, not far from the period at which Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was of pure Jewish extraction, of the tribe of Benjamin, and descended from pious ancestry. This insured his careful instruction in Jewish history, and such portions of the law of Moses as he could understand in childhood. His parents were Pharisees, and, therefore, his understanding of the Scriptures was modified by the peculiar interpretations and traditions of that sect, while his prejudices were all enlisted in its favor.

Besides this religious instruction, he was taught the trade of tent-making. The goat’s hair which was used in this manufacture was produced in Cilicia in such abundance, and of so fine a quality, that the manufactured article acquired the name Cilicium, from the name of the province. The wisdom of his parents in teaching him this trade as a means of providing against the unfortunate contingencies of life, will be fully exemplified in the course of this narrative.

The child was being educated, under the eye of an overruling Providence, for a future unthought of by either himself or his parents. His residence in a city where the Greek language prevailed was not the least important circumstance bearing upon his education. Like the children of foreigners in our own country, though the ancestral tongue was the language of the fireside, on the streets and in all places of public resort he was compelled to employ the language of the adopted country. In this way he acquired that familiarity with the Greek, which enabled him, in after-life, to employ it with facility both in writing and speaking.

It was only his earliest childhood that was thus devoted to parental instruction, and to the acquirement of the Greek language and a trade; for he was brought up in the city of Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel. Under the instruction of this learned Pharisee, whose prudence and whose calm indifference to the cause of Christ we have had occasion to notice, in commenting on the second trial of the apostles, his Pharisaic prejudices must have been intensified, with his knowledge of the law was enlarged, and his zeal for it inflamed.

A youth of Paul’s intellectual capacity would be expected to make rapid advances with the opportunities which he now enjoyed, and so, he tells us, he did. I made progress in the Jew’s religion above many my equals in age in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. This pre-eminence among his school-fellows was accompanied by the strictest propriety of religious deportment; so that he could appeal, after the lapse of many years, to those who knew him in his youth, though now his enemies, to testify that, according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. He could even declare that he was, touching the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. Such was his character, and his reputation, when he finished his course of instruction in the school of Gamaliel.

If the usual supposition concerning Saul’s age is correct, it is not probable that he was in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion, or for several years previous. If he had been, it would be unaccountable that in all his epistles he makes no allusion to a personal knowledge of Jesus. The supposition that he was at that time still confined in the school of Gamaliel is not only inconsistent with his supposed age, which could not have been less than thirty at the time he is introduced to us, but it is insufficient to account for his ignorance of events over which the every children of Jerusalem rejoiced. The supposition that he left the school and returned to Tarsus previous to the immersion preached by John, and reappeared in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus, is most agreeable to all the known facts in the case. By an absence of a few years he had not forfeited his former reputation, but appears now as a leader in the movements against the Church. We have already, in commenting on Acts 6:9 , ventured the assumption, that among the Cilicians there mentioned as opponents of Stephen, Saul bore a leading part as a disputant. Such a position of his superior learning and piety would naturally assign him, and his prominence at the stoning of Stephen affords evidence in favor of this assumption. The law required that the witnesses upon whose testimony an idolater was condemned to death should throw the first stones, in the execution of the sentence. In accordance with this law, the witnesses against Stephen, preparatory to their cruel work, laid off their cumbrous outer-garments, at the feet of Saul, who was consenting of his death. After the death of Stephen, he still maintained the position of a leader, and continued to commit men and women to prison, until the Church was entirely dispersed. Many of those committed to prison met with the fate of Stephen. This fact is not stated by Luke, but is confessed by Paul in his speech before Agrippa. Many others were beaten in the synagogues, and compelled to blaspheme the name of Jesus as the condition of release from their tortures.

After the congregation in Jerusalem had been dispersed, Saul doubtless thought that the sect was effectually crushed. But soon the news came floating back from every quarter, that the scattered disciples were building up congregations in every direction. One less determined than Saul might have despaired of final success is destroying a cause which had thus far been promoted by every attack made upon it, and which even sprung up with increasing strength from apparent destruction. But his was a nature which gathered new resolution as obstacles multiplied before him; and thus he appears in the present text, which, after so long delay, we must now have before us. (1) But Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, (2) and requested from him letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he found any of that way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Why he selected Damascus as the scene of his first enterprise, rather than some of the cities of Judea, is acknowledged by Olshausen as difficult to determine. But when we remember the sensitiveness of patriots, in reference to the reputation of their country and its institutions in foreign lands, the difficulty disappears. The ancestral religion of the Jew was his pride and boast in every land. It was bitter enough to the proud Pharisee that it should be brought into disrepute among a portion of the population at home; but when the hated authors of this reproach began to spread it abroad in surrounding kingdoms, it was beyond endurance. When the news reached Jerusalem that this dishonoring heresy had begun to spread in the ancient and celebrated city of Damascus, where thousands of Jews then lived, and had obtained a religious influence over a large portion of the population, the exasperation of the Pharisees knew no bounds, and Saul, with characteristic ardor, started in pursuit of the fugitives. He had reason, of course, to believe, that, upon requisition of the high priest, the authorities of Damascus, which was then embraced within the dominions of the Arabian king Aretas, would deliver up the disciples as fugitives from justice. That he was correct in this is sufficiently demonstrated by the zeal with which the governor afterward lent the aid of his guards to the orthodox Jews, for the purpose of seizing Paul himself.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Acts Chapter 9

A work and a workman of another character begin now to dawn upon the scene.

We have seen the inveterate opposition of the heads of Israel to the testimony of the Holy Ghost, their obstinacy in repelling the patient grace of God. Israel rejected all the work of the God of grace in their behalf. Saul makes himself the apostle of their hatred to the disciples of Jesus, to the servants of God. Not content with searching them out at Jerusalem, he asks for letters from the high priest, that he may go and lay hands on them in foreign cities. When Israel is in full opposition to God, he is the ardent missionary of their malice-in ignorance, no doubt, but the willing slave of his Jewish prejudices.

Thus occupied, he approaches Damascus. There, in the full career of an unbroken will, the Lord Jesus stops him. A light from heaven shines round about him, and envelopes him in its dazzling brightness. He falls to the earth, and hears a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The glory which had thrown him to the ground left no doubt-accompanied as it was by that voice-that the authority of God was revealed in it. His will broken, his pride overthrown, his mind subdued, he asks, Who art thou, Lord? The authority of the One who spoke was unquestionable; Sauls heart was subject to that authority: and it was Jesus. The career of his self-will was ended for ever. But moreover the Lord of glory was not only Jesus; He also acknowledged the poor disciples, whom Saul desired to carry prisoners to Jerusalem, as being Himself.

How many things were revealed in those few words! The Lord of glory declared Himself to be Jesus, whom Saul persecuted. The disciples were one with Himself. The Jews were at open war with the Lord Himself. The whole system which they maintained, all their law, all their official authority, all the ordinances of God, had not prevented their being at open war with the Lord. Saul himself, armed with their authority, found himself occupied in destroying the name of the Lord and His people from off the earth: a terrible discovery, completely overwhelming his soul, all-powerful in its effects, not leaving one moral element of his soul standing before its strength. Extenuation of the evil was fruitless; zeal for Judaism was zeal against the Lord. His own conscience had only animated that zeal. The authorities constituted of God, surrounded with the halo of centuries of honour, enhanced by the present calamities of Israel which had now nothing but her religion-these authorities had but sanctioned and favoured his efforts against the Lord. The Jesus whom they rejected was the Lord. The testimony which they endeavoured to suppress was His testimony. What a change for Saul! What a new position, even for the minds of the apostles themselves who remained at Jerusalem, when all were dispersed-faithful indeed in spite of the opposition of the rulers of Israel, but themselves in connection with the nation.

But the work went deeper yet. Misguided no doubt, but his conscience in itself-for he thought he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth-left him the enemy of the Lord. Blameless righteousness according to law, as man could measure it, more than left him hardened in open opposition to the Lord. His superiors, and the authorities of the ancient religion-all his soul was based on morally as well as religiously-all was smashed within him for ever. He was broken up in the whole man before God. Nothing remained in him but discovered enmity against God, save as his own will was also broken in the process, he who an hour before was the conscientious, blameless, religious man! Compare, though the revelation of Christ carried him much farther, Gal 2:20; Php 3:1-21;2Co 1:9; Php 4:10; and a multitude of passages.

Other important points are brought out here. Saul had not known Jesus on earth. He had not a testimony because he had known Him from the beginning, declaring that He was made Lord and Christ. It is not a Jesus who goes up into heaven where He is out of sight; but the Lord who appears to him for the first time in heaven, and who announces to him that He is Jesus. A glorious Lord is the only one whom he knows. His gospel (as he expresses it himself) is the gospel of the glory. If he had known Christ after the flesh, he knows Him thus no more. But there is yet another important principle found here. The Lord of glory has His members on earth. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It was Himself: those poor disciples were bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. He looked upon them and cherished them as His own flesh. The glory and the oneness of the saints with Jesus, their Head in heaven, are the truths connected with the conversion of Saul, with the revelation of Jesus to him, with the creation of faith in his heart, and that in a way which overthrew Judaism in all its bearings in his soul; and that in a soul in which this Judaism formed an integral part of its existence, and gave it its whole character.

Another point, borrowed from his account of the vision later in the book, which is remarkable in connection with his career: Separating thee, says the Lord, from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee. This moral end of Saul separated him from both-of course from the Jews, but did not make a Gentile of him either-and united him with a glorified Christ. He was neither a Jew nor a Gentile in his spiritual standing. All his life and ministry flowed from his association with a heavenly glorified Christ.

Nevertheless he comes into the assembly by the usual means-like Jesus in Israel-humbly taking his place there where the truth of God was established by His power. Blind for three days and fully engrossed-as was natural-with such a discovery, he neither eats nor drinks; and afterwards, besides the fact of his blindness, which was a quiet, continual, and unequivocal proof of the truth of that which had happened to him, his faith must have been confirmed by the arrival of Ananias, who can declare to him from the Lord that which had happened to him, although he had not been out of the city-a circumstance so much the more striking because, in a vision, Saul had seen him come and restore his sight. And this Ananias does: Saul receives sight, and is baptised. He takes food and is strengthened. The conversation of Jesus with Ananias is remarkable, as shewing with what distinct evidence the Lord revealed Himself in those days, and the holy liberty and confidence with which the true and faithful disciple conversed with Him. The Lord speaks as a man to his friend in details of place and circumstances, and Ananias reasons in all confiding openness with the Lord in regard to Saul; and Jesus answers him, not in harsh authority, though of course Ananias had to obey, but with gracious explanation, as with one admitted to His confidence, by declaring that Saul is a chosen vessel to bear His name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel; and that He will shew him how great things he must suffer for His sake.

Saul makes no delay in confessing and declaring his faith; and that which he says is eminently worthy of notice. He preaches in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God. It is the first time that this is done. That He was exalted to the right hand of God-that He was Lord and Christ-had been already preached; the rejected Messiah was exalted on high. But here it is the simple doctrine as to His personal glory; Jesus is the Son of God.

In the words of Jesus to Ananias, the children of Israel come last.

Saul does not yet begin his public ministry. It is, so to speak, only the expression of his personal faithfulness, his zeal, his faith, among those that surrounded him, with whom he was naturally connected. It was not long before opposition manifested itself, in the nation that would have no Christ, at least according to God, and the disciples sent him away, letting him down by the wall in a basket; and through the agency of Barnabas (a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, whom grace had taught to value the truth with regard to the new disciple) the dreaded Saul found his place among the disciples even at Jerusalem. [16] Wonderful triumph of the Lord! Singular position for himself there, had he not been absorbed by the thought of Jesus. At Jerusalem he reasons with the Hellenists. He was one of them. The Hebrews were not his natural sphere. They seek to put him to death; the disciples bring him down to the sea, and send him to Tarsus, the place of his birth. The triumph of grace has, under Gods hand, silenced the adversary. The assemblies are left in peace, and edify themselves-walking in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the two great elements of blessing; and their numbers increase. Persecution accomplishes the designs of God. The peace which He grants gives opportunity for ripening in grace and in the knowledge of Himself. We learn the ways and government of God in the midst of the imperfection of man.

Peace being established through the goodness of God-sole resource of those who truly wait upon Him in submission to His will-Peter passes throughout all parts of Israel. The Spirit of God relates this circumstance here, between the conversion of Saul and his apostolic work, to shew us, I doubt not, the apostolic energy in Peter existing at the very time when the call of the new apostle was to bring in new light, and a work that was new in many important respects (thus sanctioning as His own work, and in its place, that which had been done before, whatever progress in accomplishment His counsels might make); and in order to shew us the introduction of the Gentiles into the assembly as it was at first founded by His grace in the beginning, preserving thus its unity, and putting His seal upon this work of heavenly grace.

The assembly existed. The doctrine of her oneness, as the body of Christ, outside the world, was not yet made known.The reception of Cornelius did not announce it, although paving its way.

Footnotes for Acts Chapter 9

16: This was, it would appear, later, but is noticed here to put him, so to speak, in his place among Christians.

Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament

SAULS CONVERSION

1-15. As the Romans looked upon the Nazarenes as an insignificant faction of Judaism, in some way to them utterly mysterious, out of harmony with their own church, they acquiesced in the purchase of Jewish favor with Nazarene blood. The miraculous appearing of the glorified Jesus to Saul was adumbratory of His glorious appearing at His second coming, just as His miraculous appearing to Abraham at Mamre in the humiliation of human flesh was a prelude of His incarnation in His first advent. It is also confirmatory of His revelation to the soul of every sinner in his conversion, since Christ is now glorified. He always appears in His glory when revealed by the Holy Ghost to the soul. The Holy Spirit is not only the personal Successor of Jesus on the earth, but His personal Revelator.

Sauls comrades saw the light, but no person; and heard the sound, but no utterance. Hence there is no disharmony with chapter 22. Saul was an indefatigable student, having graduated in the Greek colleges of Tarsus, and in the Hebrew schools of Jerusalem. Hence his eyes were feeble and much worn, so that they went into total eclipse under the supernatural effulgence of the glorified Savior, simultaneously symbolizing the significant fact that the great light of his wonderful unsanctified learning must go into total eclipse before the unspeakable glory destined to pour on him the Sun of Righteousness. So must every man become utterly blind to human learning and wisdom before he can receive the supernatural illuminations of God and His truth. Many great theologians are never struck blind like Saul.

Therefore they never receive the preternatural light of Paul. Oh, how we all need to be made blind that we may receive our spiritual sight. That good old evangelist, Ananias, falters till he hears that Saul is praying, then all his fears depart. You need not fear the most bloodthirsty desperado if he is praying.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Act 9:1. Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Not less than two thousand of them, who fell in this storm, were massacred indiscriminately. If what is said by Baronius in the preseding chapter be true, that Saul was now thirty five years of age, which is highly probable, seeing he calls himself Paul the aged, in his subsequent epistle to Philemon, then he must have returned to Cilicia, or gone on some mission of the synagogue, during the three years of our Saviours ministry. He regards himself as one born out of due time, because he had not seen Christ in the flesh.

Act 9:4. He heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Other scriptures add, that the Lord appeared to him in the way: Act 9:17. Barnabas told the elders in Jerusalem, how he had seen the Lord. And Ananias said to him that God had chosen him to see that Just One, and to hear his voice: Act 22:14. Yea, he himself says to the parties at Corinth, Have I not seen Christ Jesus the Lord? This vision or open view, elevated Paul to the glory of all the apostles, who saw the Lord, and often after his resurrection.

Act 9:5. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. The very name against which he had been so madly opposed, and that very Saviour whom he had so violently execrated. Thus the Lord still glories in the cross, even after his ascension into heaven.

Act 9:9. He was three days without sight. Chrysostom conceives that he then had those extraordinary visions and revelations mentioned in 2Co 12:2; and that there God revealed his Son in him, that he might preach him among the heathen. Gal 1:16.

Act 9:19. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples. Saints and angels rejoiced alike at his birth. He now heard witnesses on the other side: they showed him the old testament full of Jesus; the types of Isaac and Joseph, the victims bleeding on the altar, the highpriest entering the holy place; all adumbrating the glory of Christ and of his kingdom.

Act 9:29. He disputed against the Grecians. Literally the Hellenists, who were probably pharisees, of the sect to which he had belonged. See the note on chap. Act 6:1. The word Hellenists is of doubtful import. Joh 12:20. Act 11:20, &c.

Act 9:31. Then had the churches rest. The arm of God revealed in the conversion of the captain of Satans host, struck appalling terrors on the persecutors. Then the saints walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and were multiplied. They were edified by the regular worship, exactly after the manner of the synagogue; by prayer, by reading the law and the prophets, by expounding the sacred text in every form of edifying address; by singing psalms, and adding hymns which celebrated the divinity of Christ, the Word of God. Eusebius. Thus the christian churches were so many little synagogues transformed to Christ.

REFLECTIONS.

The conversion of this young man to the faith of Christ, suggests a variety of the most important and instructive reflections.

It is common for youth of the best dispositions to err in the outset of life. How penetrating soever their genius may be, they have not experience, nor is their judgment mature. One errs through bigotry and unhallowed zeal, another is malicious and cruel, and a third is carried away with a torrent of imperious pride, and the vices of the age. Such is man in his carnal state; and without a divine change, whether pharisee or prodigal, he cannot see the face of God.

Providence often manages the furious passions of men to accomplish its own sovereign pleasure. Saul and the council were bent on exterminating the christians, but the dispersed travelled everywhere preaching Jesus, that he was the Christ. The jews were training Saul to serve their nation, but God overruled all their toil for the good of his church. His wisdom, his genius, his fire, and assiduity were all intended as the hallowed ornaments of the sanctuary. Why then should the humble saint fear the great, the high, and the proud? The wrath of man shall praise the Lord, and even enmity shall serve his cause. How much more easily would St. Paul bear persecution, and how tender would he be towards its misguided instruments when recollecting the errors of his youth.

When men are out of the reach of ordinary means, and yet desire to be right, God will go out of his common way for their conversion. This is exemplified in the case of the eunuch, and of Cornelius, Act 8:10, but in no case more than that of Saul. Here grace stooped to his situation, for his proud heart would never have stooped to hear the apostles. Grace waited for him in the way. In his judgment, blinded with ignorance and passion, he was quite clear that he acted a laudable part in the suppression of christianity; and yet his heart, otherwise tender and moral, was at variance with his judgment. When he saw Damascus, and considered what he was about to do to a people that never offended him, his feelings would revolt at what he called his duty. In this moment, the Lord Christ discovered to him his glory, which at noonday shone above the brightness of the sun; and this glory was an infallible sign of his Messiahship and true divinity. Exo 24:16-17. Isa 6:2. Hab 3:3. Joh 1:14. Evidence less strong would scarcely have converted a mind so prejudiced. Besides, it was requisite that he should see the glory of Christ to be constituted an apostle, and a witness of his resurrection. How indulgent is God to the errors of man.

Grace was not only triumphant in Sauls conversion, but also well timed. The Lord did not meet this rebel on coming out of Jerusalem, lest being taken back to the pharisees they should throw every barrier in the way of his conversion and ministry. He met him near the entrance of Damascus, where his repentance could be fostered by solitude, where the tears of the church could be changed into joy, and where he could make a triumphant entrance on the ministry. Thus the Lords counsel is perfect; his way is plain before him, and he laughs at all the malice of his foes.

Genuine conversion always begins with conviction of sin. While this noble youth laid prostrate on the ground, a voice said, with gentle calm, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I know thy name, thy errand, and thy heart. Tell me now, what harm have my people done to thee, or to thy country, or to thy religion. Saul was silent, and trembled with guilt and fear. On leaving Jerusalem he had a hundred pleas for persecuting the saints; now, when God speaks, he has not a word to say. He only ventured to ask who that human form was which he saw in the glory; and was answered, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee, poor fainting youth, to kick, like the restive bullock, against the goads. Here the silence of reflection rolled the billows of conviction over his conscience. What, Jesus of Nazareth, Lord of glory! Oh, the blood of Stephen. Oh, the waste of his flock. Oh, the misery into which I have plunged my soul by one sad error! Lord, I am undone. What wouldest thou have me to do? The wicked may hence infer, that if Christ should meet them in their foolish career, he would demand a reason why they disobey their parents, and neglect their salvation. He would ask why they indulge in blasphemy, in drunkenness, and in impurity. So he did in the days of his flesh. When the lovely young man, who seemed to have no fault, came and devoutly asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus touched the tender spot, and convinced him that he loved his lands more than his God. When the shrewd woman of Samaria dared to dispute with him about religion, waving those subjects, he said Go, call thy husband. And instantly her own conscience arraigned her at his bar. Now, if the same Lord should speak from heaven, his eyes would dart fire on the wicked, and his words would pierce the guilty with conviction.

The Lord Jesus refers awakened persons to the ministry for instruction and comfort; for that is his established oracle, and it will convey adequate knowledge, accompanied with all the tender and fostering care of the church. So he sent Philip to instruct the eunuch, and Peter to help Cornelius and his friends. Happy is the awakened soul that takes the Lords counsel.

Genuine conversion is followed by various effects and evidences. Among these are, tears, solitude, and prayer. And above all, a clear sense of Gods pardoning love shed abroad in the heart. Arise, said Ananias, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. It is followed by the comforts of the Holy Ghost, with christian fellowship, and a life devoted to the glory of God. Saul being some days with the saints at Damascus, found them of a temper totally different from the pharisees; their whole conversation and worship bore a striking resemblance to heaven. To this people his heart became united for ever; and forgetting his kindred, and trampling on all his carnal hopes, he straightway preached and published the glory of his crucified Lord. His faith realized the unseen world; he fainted at no difficulty, and millions of conversions were the fruit of one.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Act 9:1-25. Pauls Conversion.This belongs geographically to the field of the Hellenist mission, which was announced in Act 8:4, and occupied that whole chapter. We heard of that mission at Samaria and Csarea, now we hear of people at Damascus who belong to the Way. Sauls persecuting zeal (Act 8:3) was not aimed at the apostles, but sought to protect the Jewish communities of the Dispersion from the poison of the Gospel. He is said to have applied to the High Priest for letters to the synagogues accrediting him as a special inquisitor. The High Priest had no authority over the synagogues of foreign towns, and under the Roman procurators the powers of the Sanhedrin were also much restricted (Schrer, II. i. 185); the Roman Government would have defended a believer who appealed to it from the designs here imputed to Paul, and we do not hear of any actual cases. We have his own statement (Gal 1:13) that he did lay waste the Church, but any punishment he brought about must have been inflicted by the local synagogues. The conversion is narrated thrice in Ac. (Acts 9, 22, 26) with agreement in the main but differences in details. With these accounts of the outward occurrence, we can compare Pauls account of it as an inner event in his life (Gal 1:15 f., 2Co 4:5 f., Php 3:7-10). Our accounts agree that it took place near Damascus, that the first act was the shining of a bright light, and as to the words addressed to him.

Act 9:3. It is only a light that he sees, not a form; so in all three accounts; cf. 2Co 4:4.

Act 9:4. fell upon the earth: so Daniel (Dan 8:17), and Ezekiel (Eze 1:28); the voice uses the Heb. and Aram. name of Saul; in ch. 26 it is said to have spoken Hebrew. It is impossible to argue from this passage that Paul recognised the Lord and must have seen him before (2Co 5:16*); he has to ask who is speaking to him.

Act 9:6. Paul is not addressed as a blind man.

Act 9:7. The companions are now spoken of; they are speechless, unable to understand what has happened, since they heard the voice but saw not the speaker. In ch. 26 they saw the light but heard not the voice.

Act 9:8. Two Latin MSS read, And he said to them, Lift me up from the ground; and Saul arose from the ground, etc. In the text he raises himself, but on opening his eyes sees nothing.

Act 9:9. Does the fasting proceed from his mood or is it a preparation for baptism such as is prescribed in Didach, vii. 4, Tell the person to be baptized to fast one or two days? Baptism is called in early Church writers enlightenment, and the blindness keeps Saul in a state for it.

Act 9:10. A vision is often the means of introducing a new action or development (see Gal 1:16, Act 10:3; Act 11:5; Act 16:9; Act 27:23). It is the Lord, i.e. Jesus, who speaks to him, and to whom he speaks (Act 9:13; Act 9:15). Ananias is to go to Straight Street, which still exists in Damascus (Darb-al-Mostakim), though not in the old splendour, and to ask in the house of Judas for Saul of Tarsus.

Act 9:12 is omitted, to the improvement of the passage, in a Latin MS. In this vision Ananias is told of a vision which Saul had, and his answer of Act 9:13 f. is rendered obscure.

Act 9:13. thy saints: the believers at Jerusalem are saints; those elsewhere are those who call on thy name. Ananias knows (how?) that Saul is accredited by the High Priest to Damascus to put the brethren in bonds; that is the story of Ac. on the subject, as to which there is, as we saw, grave doubt. The answer contains a view of Pauls mission somewhat different from his own. He is a vessel of election (cf. vessel of wrath, Rom 9:22), a vessel chosen to bear the name of Jesus before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Paul regarded himself as chosen to preach Christ to the Gentiles (Gal 1:16, Rom 1:5), and confesses himself debtor to all classes of men among them, but not to the Jews (Rom 1:14, but cf. 1Co 9:20), though he did address them as occasion offered.

Act 9:16. His destined career is said to be one of suffering, yet it was also one of great and fruitful activity (Rom 15:18-21).

Act 9:17. laying his hands on him: cf. Act 9:12. Jesus in Mar 1:41 heals the leper by a touch (cf. Mar 5:23; Mar 7:32; Mar 8:25).the Lord, in this chapter, is the ordinary title for Jesus; in the earlier chapters He has others; Saul is to know that this is His title (cf. Act 9:10). Ananias is sent not only to give Saul his sight, but to see that he is filled with the Holy Spirit, as all the believers were at their baptism.

Act 9:18. fell from his eyes as it were scales: a medical man would express himself thus (Hobart, p. 81) but so might another; and the physical blindness is symbolic of Pauls spiritual blindness when he entered the Church and was enlightened in baptism.

Act 9:19 f. It is hypercritical to compare the statement that on his recovery he was certain days with the disciples at Damascus, with his own assurance in Gal 1:16. But could he say that straightway he conferred not with flesh and blood if, as is here said, he was engaged in preaching in the synagogues in Damascus? That preaching might, no doubt, be uncontroversial, but what became of the High Priests letters? [Gal 1:16 b seems to mean I did not consult any of my fellow-Christians as to the significance of the Gospel. This does not exclude preaching in the synagogues to unconverted Jews. It frequently happens after a catastrophic conversion that one of the first things the new convert does is to start preaching to his old associates. Paul may conceivably have delivered the High Priests letters, but this is very unlikely; they were not letters which it would have been a breach of trust to withhold, but letters of authorisation for a commission he could no longer fulfil.A. S. P.] It seems unlikely that he preached to the Jews what he is said to have done, that Jesus was the Son of God. That insight made him the missionary to the Gentiles, but could it be developed so early? [If, as is not improbable, Gal 1:16 a, to reveal his Son in me, expresses what Paul at the time of his conversion realised Jesus to be, then Ac. may be quite right in representing Paul as using the designation Son of God, all the more as it never represents his predecessors as using it.A. S. P.] Only here does Ac. represent him as preaching it (see Introduction to Menzies Commentary on 2 Cor.). In Act 9:22 his theme at this time is said to have been that Jesus was Messiah, much more likely for a beginner.

Act 9:21. Everyone is acquainted with the story, already known to Ananias before he was sent to Saul (Act 9:13 f.), and is naturally surprised at his conduct.

Act 9:22. His increase in strength is not merely physical as in Act 9:19; some MSS add in the message, i.e. his confidence increased. He goes on with his demonstration to the Jews that Jesus is Messiah.

Act 9:23. A plot of the Jews brings his activity at Damascus to a sudden conclusion. In 2Co 11:32 f. Paul tells us how he left Damascus, and the only important difference between the two accounts is that he represents the attempt on him as proceeding from the ethnarch of Aretas (p. 655) the king, while here it is due to the Jews in the city (pp. 768f.).his disciples: better the disciples (AV), since no collection of disciples by him has been reported. Both readings are well supported.basket: a different word from that in 2Co 11:33.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Philip the evangelist is now put in the background, as the Spirit of God begins a work of another kind, using a most unexpected workman. Saul was filled with strongest animosity toward the disciples, determined to crush Christianity out of existence. He secured authority from the high priest to go to Damascus, in Syria, with the object of taking prisoner any Jews who had embraced Christianity, and bringing them to Jerusalem to face imprisonment or martyrdom. He was not deterred by the fact that Syria was a foreign country nor did he consider extradition proceedings necessary: he was a bold, determined man.

However, he had forgotten heaven’s authority, and the light suddenly shining from heaven was more than he expected. It was the light, not an exertion of great power, that prostrated him to the ground. Then a penetrating voice, impossible to be ignored, deeply searches his conscience: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Whoever is speaking, Saul knows that He is Lord, but questions as to His name. The answer, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” must surely have produced a tremendous upheaval in the heart of the proud, zealous, prejudiced Pharisee! This was the Man whose name he was determined to banish from the earth!

Saul is evidently stricken virtually dumb, and the Lord tells him to arise and go into the city (Damascus), where he would be told what to do. Those with him heard the voice, and were speechless also. Chapter 22:9 evidently indicates that they did not understand what was said, though aware of a voice speaking. The message was intended for him alone. The Lord knows how to impress His truth on individuals, who realize the message to be specifically for them. The effect of this is striking. Saul is unable to see when he stands up. Like other Pharisees (Joh 9:41), he thought he was a highly enlightened man, but God teaches him that the light of which he boasted was darkness in contrast to the light from heaven. For three days also he neither ate nor drank. We can hardly imagine the greatness of the revolution taking place in his soul.

But though it was primarily with the Lord he had to do, he must learn also that he cannot be independent of the people of God. The Lord therefore sends a disciple, Ananias, to inquire for Saul of Tarsus, of whom He says, “for behold, he is praying.” He also adds that Saul has received a confirming vision of a man named Ananias coming to him, putting his hands on him, that his sight may be recovered. The putting on of his hands did not in itself have supernatural power: rather, God saw fit to show His power in conjunction with the expressed fellowship (which is involved in the putting on of hands) of a believer. The Lord’s revelation to Ananias therefore was accompanied by a vision given to Saul, so that there could be no mistake.

When Ananias protests that he has heard from many witnesses of the evil Saul had done to the saints in Jerusalem, and of his coming to Damascus with the intention of taking Christians captive, the Lord insists that he go because Saul was a chosen vessel to bear His name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel (notice Gentiles first). Moreover, the man who had made others suffer would be shown by the Lord what great things he must suffer for Christ’s name’s sake. Subsequent history proved this, and with the fullest acquiescence on the part of the sufferer (2Co 12:10).

Ananias willingly obeys, and in coming into the house unhesitatingly identifies himself with Saul by the putting on of his hands and calling him, “brother,” telling him that the Lord Jesus who had appeared to Saul had sent Ananias, that Saul might have his sight restored and be filled with the Spirit of God. The result was immediate as regards his sight, which reminds us that seeing the truth today is vitally connected with the fellowship of God’s people, the church. He was then baptized. No mention is made of the time that he actually received the Spirit, but no doubt this was true immediately after he was baptized, for he was Jewish (Act 2:38). No suggestion is made of any marked demonstration of his having received the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues. These things are only spoken of when a number were together (Act 2:1-47; Act 8:1-40; Act 10:1-48; Act 19:1-41).

When Saul received his sight, his fast was ended and he was strengthened by the eating of food. Then he remained some days with the disciples in Damascus, not returning to Jerusalem, as he had planned. Nothing more is said of the men who came with him. But immediately in the synagogues of Damascus he preached Christ as the Son of God (not only as Lord and Christ or as God’s Servant, as Peter had done).

The change in the man amazed his hearers, who were aware of his cruel intentions against believers. But as he preached Christ his strength so do so was increased. Jews in Damascus were confounded by the clarity of his proofs (no doubt from scripture) that Jesus was in reality the Christ.

Verse 19 has spoken of his being with the disciples in Damascus only “certain days,” while verse 23 speaks of “after many days.” Gal 1:15-19 clarifies this. Between the two verses he had gone into Arabia, then returned to Damascus, so that it was three years before he went to Jerusalem. How long Saul (later named Paul) was in Arabia we are not told, nor of anything he did there; but on his return to Damascus he evidently resumed his preaching, for the Jews plotted to kill him, watching the gate of the city, where he was most likely to be caught. The disciples, knowing of the plot, let Saul down by the wall in a basket during the night, so that he escaped out of their hands.

Though it was three years before his returning to Jerusalem, when he sought the fellowship of the disciples there, they were afraid of him, for they had known him before, and thought he sought to destroy them through working from the inside. Barnabas however bore good witness of him as regards his striking conversion and subsequent preaching the faith he once destroyed. We are told that he brought him to the apostles, evidently only Peter and James, for he saw only these two apostles during his fifteen days there (Gal 1:18-19).

In this short time his preaching and disputing with the Hellenists awakened such bitter animosity that they plotted his death. The brethren however, becoming aware of this, arranged for his transfer to Caesarea, from which place he took ship to his native city Tarsus, in Asia Minor. What he did in Tarsus is not told us, but it was there that Barnabas went later to find Saul (Ch.11:25).

At this time the persecution abated in Judea, Galilee and Samaria (in all the land of Israel), and the time of respite gave occasion for the assemblies to be built up and multiplied, walking in the tear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Now our attention is drawn back to Peter, who was traveling to various places within the land of Israel. Coming to Lydda (between Jerusalem and Joppa), where there were believers, he found a paralytic man who had been eight years in bed. His words to him provoked an immediate response: “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you: arise, and make your bed.” The man was healed and strong enough to arise without delay. This is intended to picture the fact that God had not cast away His people Israel, though the nation has been publicly set aside because of their rejection of the Messiah. This healing is both a pledge and a type of the future healing of Israel. Aeneas means “to praise,” speaking of Israel’s eventual adoration of their true Messiah Jesus. The miracle turned many to the Lord, just as Israel’s conversion in a coming day will greatly affect others.

Peter is then called to Joppa because of the death of a godly sister, Tabitha (or Dorcas), whose good works had been a precious testimony to all who knew her. How many have been greatly blessed through the godly in Israel in the past, and yet that godliness was dying out of the nation because of their rejection of Christ. The sorrow of this is portrayed by the weeping widows.

Peter puts them all out, for her revival is to be solely God’s work, not that of concerted effort by numbers, just as Israel’s revival will be virtually life from the dead, a miracle of God. Kneeling, Peter prays, utterly dependent on the grace and power of God, then calmly tells Tabitha to arise. It is a striking picture of how godliness in Israel will be wonderfully revived in a coming day. Because of this many turned in faith to the Lord Jesus.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

9:1 And {1} Saul, yet {a} breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

(1) Saul (who is also Paul), persecuting Christ most cruelly, who did as it were flee before him, falls into Christ’s hands, and is overcome: and with a singular example of the goodness of God, in place of punishment which he justly deserved for his cruelty, is not only kindly received, but is also even by the mouth of God appointed an apostle, and is confirmed by the ministry and witness of Ananias.

(a) This is a sign that Saul’s stomach boiled and cast out great threats to murder the disciples.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

C. The mission of Saul 9:1-31

The writer focused our attention next on a key figure in the spread of the Christian mission and on significant events in the development of that mission to the Gentiles. Peter’s evangelization of Cornelius (ch. 10) will continue to advance this theme. Luke has given us three portraits of significant individuals in the evangelization of Gentiles: Stephen, Philip, and now, climactically, Saul. He stressed that Saul’s conversion and calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles came supernaturally and directly from God, and Saul himself played a passive role in these events. Saul retold the story of his conversion and calling twice in Acts 22, 26 and again in Galatians 1. Its importance in Acts is clear from its repetition. [Note: See Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 327.]

"It cannot be stressed enough that these accounts are summaries and Luke has written them up in his own style and way." [Note: Witherington, p. 309.]

Saul became God’s primary instrument in taking the gospel to the Gentile world.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Saul’s conversion and calling 9:1-19a

Luke recorded the conversion and calling of Saul of Tarsus to demonstrate the supernatural power and sovereign direction of God. Saul’s conversion was one of the most miraculous and significant instances of repentance that took place during the early expansion of the church. His calling to be God’s main missionary to the Gentiles was equally dramatic.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Saul’s conversion on the Damascus road 9:1-9

"Without question, the story of Saul’s ’conversion’ is one of the most important events, if not the most important event, that Luke records in Acts." [Note: Timothy J. Ralston, "The Theological Significance of Paul’s Conversion," Bibliotheca Sacra 147:586 (April-June 1990):303.]

"In this passage we have the most famous conversion story in all history." [Note: Barclay, p. 71. Cf. Neil, p. 125.]

"The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch was in a chariot; the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was down in the dust." [Note: McGee, 4:548.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Since Stephen’s martyrdom (cf. Act 8:3), Saul had been persecuting Jews who had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. [Note: See Appendix 1, "Sequence of Paul’s Activities," at the end of these notes.]

"The partitive genitive of apeiles [threats] and phonou [murder] means that threatening and slaughter had come to be the very breath that Saul breathed, like a warhorse who sniffed the smell of battle. He breathed on the remaining disciples the murder that he had already breathed in from the death of the others. He exhaled what he inhaled." [Note: Robertson, 3:113.]

The Jewish high priest’s Roman overseers gave the high priest authority to extradite Jews who were strictly religious offenders and had fled outside the Sanhedrin’s jurisdiction. [Note: Longenecker, p. 369; Kent, pp. 82-83.] Saul obtained letters from the high priest (evidently Caiaphas) giving him power to arrest Jesus’ Jewish disciples from Palestine who had fled to Damascus because of persecution in Jerusalem. This grand inquisitor undoubtedly believed that he was following in the train of other zealous Israelites who had purged idolatry from Israel (e.g., Moses in Num 25:1-5; Phinehas in Num 25:6-15; Elijah in 1 Kings 18; Mattathias in 1Ma 2:23-28; 1Ma 2:42-48).

"Saul never forgave himself for that. God forgave him; the Christians forgave him; but he never forgave himself . . . 1Co 15:9[;] Gal 1:13." [Note: Ironside, Lectures on . . ., pp. 203-4.]

The King of the Nabateans who governed Damascus at this time cooperated with Saul. He was Aretas IV (9 B.C.-A.D. 40). [Note: F. F. Bruce, "Chronological Questions in the Acts of the Apostles," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 18:2 (Spring 1986):275.] Damascus stood about 135 miles to the north-northeast of Jerusalem, about a week’s journey. It was within the Roman province of Syria and was one of the towns of the Decapolis, a league of 10 self-governing cities. "The Way" was one of the earliest designations of Christianity (cf. Act 18:24-25; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22), and it appears only in Acts. It meant the path characterized by life and salvation. This title may go back to Jesus’ teaching that He was the way and that His way of salvation was a narrow way (Joh 14:6; Mat 7:14).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

elete_me Act 9:1-6

Chapter 2

THE CONVERSION OF THE PERSECUTOR.

Act 8:3; Act 9:1-6

WE have in the last chapter traced the course of St. Pauls life as we know it from his own reminiscences, from hints in Holy Scripture, and from Jewish history and customs. The Jewish nation is exactly like all the nations of the East, in one respect at least. They are all intensely conservative, and though time has necessarily introduced some modifications, yet the course of education, and the force of prejudice, and the power of custom have in the mare remained unchanged down to the present time. We now proceed to view St. Paul, not as we imagine his course of life and education to have been, but as we follow him in the exhibition of his active powers, in the full play and swing of that intellectual energy, of those religious aims and objects for which he had been so long training.

St. Paul at his first appearance upon the stage of Christian history, upon the occasion of St. Stephens martyrdom, had arrived at the full stature of manhood both in body and in mind. He was then the young man Saul; an expression which enables us to fix with some approach to accuracy the time of his birth. St. Pauls contemporary Philo in one of his works divides mans life into seven periods, the fourth of which is young manhood, which he assigns to the years between twenty-one and twenty-eight. Roughly speaking, and without attempting any fine-drawn distinctions for which we have not sufficient material, we may say that at the martyrdom of St. Stephen St. Paul was about thirty years of age, or some ten years or thereabouts junior to our Lord, as His years would have been numbered according to those of the sons of men. One circumstance, indeed, would seem to indicate that St. Paul must have been then over and above the exact line of thirty. It is urged, and that upon the ground of St. Pauls own language, that he was a member of the Sanhedrim In the twenty-sixth chapter, defending himself before King Agrippa, St. Paul described his own course of action prior to his conversion as one of bitterest hostility to the Christian cause: “I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my vote against them”; an expression which clearly indicates that he was a member of a body and possessed a vote in an assembly which determined questions of life and death, and that could have been nothing else than the Sanhedrin, into which no one was admitted before he had completed thirty years. St. Paul, then, when he is first introduced to our notice, comes before us as a full-grown man, and a well-trained, carefully educated, thoroughly disciplined rabbinical scholar, whose prejudices were naturally excited against the new Galilean sect, and who had given public expression to his feelings by taking decided steps in opposition to its progress. The sacred narrative now sets before us

(1) the Conduct of St. Paul in his unconverted state,

(2) his Mission,

(3) his Journey, and

(4) his Conversion.

Let us take the many details and circumstances connected with this passage under these four divisions.

I. The Conduct of Saul. Here we have a picture of St. Paul in his unconverted state: “Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” This description is amply borne out by St. Paul himself, in which he even enlarges and gives us additional touches of the intensity of his antichristian hate. His ignorant zeal at this period seems to have printed itself deep upon memorys record. There are no less than at least seven different notices in the Acts or scattered through the Epistles, due to his own tongue or pen, and dealing directly with his conduct as a persecutor. No matter how he rejoiced in the fulness and blessedness of Christs pardon, no matter how he experienced the power and working of Gods Holy Spirit, St. Paul never could forget the intense hatred with which he had originally followed the disciples of the Master. Let us note them, for they all bear out, expand, and explain the statement of the passage we are now considering.

In his address to the Jews of Jerusalem as recorded in Act 22:1-30. he appeals to his former conduct as an evidence of his sincerity. In verses 4 and 5 {Act 22:4-5} he says, “I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and journeyed to Damascus, to bring them also which were there unto Jerusalem in bonds, for to be punished.” In the same discourse he recurs a second time to this topic; for, telling his audience of the vision granted to him in the temple, he says, verse 19 {Act 22:19}, “And I said, Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Thee: and when the blood of Stephen Thy witness was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting, and keeping the garments of them that slew him.” St. Paul dwells upon the same topic in the twenty-sixth chapter, when addressing King Agrippa in verses 9-11 {Act 26:9-11}, a passage already quoted in part: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this I also did in Jerusalem: and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my vote against them. And punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove to make them blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities.” It is the same in his Epistles. In four different places does he refer to his conduct as a persecutor-in 1Co 15:9, Gal 1:13, Php 3:6, 1Ti 1:13; while again in the chapter now under consideration, the ninth of Acts, we find that the Jews of the synagogue in Damascus, who were listening to St. Pauls earliest outburst of Christian zeal, asked, “Is not this he that in Jerusalem made havock of them which called on this name? and he had come hither for this intent, that he might bring them bound before the chief priests”; using the very same word “making havoc” as Paul himself uses in the first of Galatians, which in Greek is very strong, expressing a course of action accompanied with fire and blood and murder, such as occurs when a city is taken by storm.

Now these passages have been thus set forth at length because they add many details to the bare statement of Act 9:1-43, giving us a glimpse into those four or five dark and bloody years, the thought of which henceforth weighed so heavily upon the Apostles mind and memory. Just let us notice these additional touches. He shut up in prison many of the saints, both men and women, and that in Jerusalem before he went to Damascus at all. He scourged the disciples in every synagogue, meaning doubtless that he superintended the punishment, as it was the duty of the Chazan, the minister or attendant of the synagogue, to scourge the condemned, and thus strove to make them blaspheme Christ. He voted for the execution of the disciples when he acted as a member of the Sanhedrin. And lastly he followed the disciples and persecuted them in foreign cities. We gain in this way & much fuller idea of the young enthusiasts persecuting zeal than usually is formed from the words, “Saul yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” which seem to set forth Saul as roused to wild and savage excitement by St. Stephens death, and then continuing that course in the city of Jerusalem, for a very brief period. Whereas, on the contrary, St. Pauls fuller statements, when combined, represent him as pursuing a course of steady, systematic, and cruel repression, which St. Paul largely helped to inaugurate, but which continued to exist as long as the Jews had the power to inflict corporal punishments and death on the members of their own nation. He visited all the synagogues in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine, scourging and imprisoning. He strove-and this is, again, another lifelike touch, -to compel the disciples to blaspheme the name of Christ in the same manner as the Romans were subsequently wont to test Christians by calling upon them to cry anathema to the name of their Master. He even extended his activity beyond the bounds of the Holy Land, and that in various directions. The visit to Damascus may not by any means. have been his first journey to a foreign town with thoughts bent on the work of persecution. He expressly says to Agrippa, “I persecuted them even unto foreign cities.” He may have: visited Tarsus, or Lystra, or the cities of Cyprus or Alexandria itself, urged on by the consuming fire of his blind, restless zeal, before he entered upon the journey to Damascus, destined to be the last undertaken in opposition to Jesus Christ. When we thus strive to realise the facts of the case, we shall see that the scenes of blood and torture and death, the ruined homes, the tears, the heartbreaking separations which the young man Saul had caused in his blind zeal for the law, and which are briefly summed up in the words “he made havoc of the Church,” were quite sufficient to account for that profound impression of his own unworthiness and of Gods great mercy towards him which he ever cherished to his dying day.

II. The Mission of Saul. Again, we notice in this passage that Saul, having shown his activity in other directions, now turned his attention to Damascus. There were political circumstances which may have hitherto hindered him from exercising the same supervision over the synagogue of Damascus which he had already extended to other foreign cities. The political history and circumstances of Damascus at this period are indeed rather obscure. The city seems to have been somewhat of a bone of contention between Herod Antipas, Aretas the king of Petra, and the Romans. About the time of St. Pauls conversion, which may be fixed at A.D. 37 or 38, there was a period of great disturbance in Palestine and Southern Syria. Pontius Pilate was deposed from his office and sent to Rome for judgment. Vitellius, the president of the whole Province of Syria, came into Palestine, changing the high priests, conciliating the Jews, and intervening in the war which raged between Herod Antipas and Aretas, his father-in-law. In the course of this last struggle Damascus seems to have changed its masters, and, while a Roman city till the year 37, it henceforth became an Arabian city, the property of King Aretas, till the reign of Nero, when it again returned beneath the Roman sway. Some one or other, or perhaps all these political circumstances combined may have hitherto prevented the Sanhedrin from taking active measures against the disciples at Damascus. But now things became settled. Caiaphas was deposed from the office of high priest upon the departure of Pontius Pilate. He had been a great friend and ally of Pilate; Vitellius therefore deprived Caiaphas of his sacred office, appointing in his stead Jonathan, son of Annas, the high priest. This Jonathan did not, however, long continue to occupy the position, as he was deposed by the same Roman magistrate, Vitellius, at the feast of Pentecost in the very same year, his brother Theophilus being appointed high priest in his room; so completely was the whole Levitical hierarchy, the entire Jewish establishment, ruled by the political officers of the Roman state. This Theophilus continued to hold the office for five or six years, and it must have been to Theophilus that Saul applied for letters unto Damascus authorising him to arrest the adherents of the new religion.

And now a question here arises, How is it that the high priest could exercise such powers and arrest his co-religionists in a foreign town? The answer to this sheds a flood of light upon the state of the Jews of the Dispersion, as they were called. I have already said a little on this point, but it demands fuller discussion. The high priest at Jerusalem was regarded as a kind of head of the whole nation. He was viewed by the Romans as the Prince of the Jews, with whom they could formally treat, and by whom they could manage a nation which, differing from all-others in its manners and customs, was scattered all over the world, and often gave much trouble. Julius Caesar laid down the lines on which Jewish privileges and Roman policy were based, and that half a century before the Christian era. Julius Caesar had been greatly assisted in his Alexandrian war by the Jewish high priest Hyrcanus, so he issued an edict in the year 47 B.C., which, after reciting the services of Hyrcanus, proceeds thus, “I command that Hyrcanus and his children do retain all the rights of the high priest, whether established by law or accorded by courtesy; and if hereafter any question arise touching the Jewish polity, I desire that the determination thereof be referred to him”; an edict which, confirmed as it was again and again, not only by Julius Caesar, but by several subsequent emperors, gave the high priest the fullest jurisdiction over the Jews, wherever they dwelt, in things pertaining to their own religion. It was therefore in strictest accord with Roman law and custom that, when Saul wished to arrest members of the synagogue at Damascus, he should make application to the high priest Theophilus for a warrant enabling him to effect his purpose.

The description, too, given of the disciples in this passage is very noteworthy and a striking evidence of the truthfulness of the narrative. The disciples were the men of “the Way.” Saul desired to bring any of “the Way” found at Damascus to be judged at Jerusalem, because the Sanhedrin alone possessed the right to pass capital sentences in matters of religion. The synagogues at Damascus or anywhere else could flog culprits, and a Jew could get no redress for any such ill-treatment even if he sought it, which would have not been at all likely; but if the final sentence of death were to be passed, the Jerusalem Sanhedrin was the only tribunal competent to entertain such questions. And the persons he desired to hale before this awful tribunal were the men of the Way. This was the name by which, in its earliest and purest day, the Church called itself. In the nineteenth chapter and ninth verse we read of St. Pauls labours at Ephesus and the opposition he endured: “But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude”; while again, in his defence before Felix, {Act 24:14} we read, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers.” The Revised translation of the New Testament has well brought out the force of the original in a manner that was utterly missed in the Authorised Version, and has emphasised for us a great truth concerning the early Christians. There was a certain holy intolerance even about the very name they imposed upon the earliest Church. It was the Way, the only Way, the Way of Life. The earliest Christians had a lively recollection of what the Apostles had heard from the mouth of the Master Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me”; and so, realising the identity of Christ and His people, realising the continued presence of Christ in His Church, they designated that Church by a term which expressed their belief that in it alone was the road to peace, the sole path of access to God. This name, “the Way,” expressed their sense of the importance of the truth. Theirs was no easy-going religion which thought that it made not the slightest matter what form of belief a man professed. They were awfully in earnest, because they knew of only one way to God, and that was the religion and Church of Jesus Christ. Therefore it was that they were willing to suffer all things rather than that they should lose this Way, or that others should miss it through their default. The marvellous, the intense missionary efforts of the primitive Church find their explanation in this expression, the Way. God had revealed the Way and had called themselves into it, and their great duty in life was to make others know the greatness of this salvation; or, as St. Paul puts it, “Necessity is laid upon me; woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.”

The exclusive claims of Christianity are thus early set forth; and it was these same exclusive claims which caused Christianity to be so hated and persecuted by the pagans. The Roman Empire would not have so bitterly resented the preaching of Christ, if His followers would have accepted the position with which other religions were contented. The Roman Empire was not intolerant of new ideas in matters of religion. Previous to the coming of our Lord the pagans had welcomed the strange, mystic rites and teaching of Egypt. They accepted from Persia the curious system and worship of Mithras within the first century after Christs crucifixion. And tradition tells that at least two of the emperors were willing to admit the image of Christ into the Pantheon, which they had consecrated to the memory of the great and good. But the Christians would have nothing to say or do with such partial honours for their Master. Religion for them was Christ alone or else it was nothing, and that because He alone was the Way. As there was but one God for them, so there was but one Mediator, Christ Jesus.

III. Sauls Journey. “As he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus.” This is the simple record left us in Holy Writ of this momentous event. A comparison of the sacred record with any of the numerous lives of St. Paul which have been published will show us how very different their points of view. The mere human narratives dwell upon the external features of the scene, enlarge upon the light which modern discoveries have thrown upon the lines of road which connected Jerusalem with Southern Syria, become enthusiastic over the beauty of Damascus as seen by the traveller from Jerusalem, over the eternal green of the groves and gardens which are still, as of old, made glad by the waters of Abana and of Pharpar; while the sacred narrative passes over all external details and marches straight to the great central fact of the persecutors conversion. And we find no fault with this. It is well that the human narratives should enlarge as they do upon the outward features and circumstances of the journey, because they thus help us to realise the Acts as a veritable history that was lived and acted. We are too apt to idealise the Bible, to think of it as dealing with an unreal world, and to regard the men and women thereof as beings of another type from ourselves. Books like Farrars and Lewins and Conybeare and Howsons “Lives of St. Paul” correct this tendency, and make the Acts of the Apostles infinitely more interesting by rendering St. Pauls career human and lifelike and clothing it with the charm of local detail. It is thus that we can guess at the very road by which the enthusiastic Saul travelled. The caravans from Egypt to Damascus are intensely conservative in their routes. In fact, even m our own revolutionary West trade and commerce preserve in large measure the same routes to-day as they used two thousand years ago. The great railways of England, and much more the great main roads, preserve in a large degree the same directions which the ancient Roman roads observed. In Ireland, with which I am still better acquainted, I know that the great roads starting from Dublin preserve in the main the same lines as in the days of St. Patrick. And so it is, but only to a much greater degree, in Palestine and throughout the East. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho preserved in St. Jeromes time, four centuries later, the same direction and the same character an in our Lords day, so that it was then called the Bloody Road, from the frequent robberies; and thus it is still, for the pilgrims who now go to visit the Jordan are furnished with a guard of Turkish soldiers to protect them from the Arab bandits. And to-day, as in the first century, the caravans from Egypt and Jerusalem, to Damascus follow either of two roads: one which proceeds through Gaza and Ramleh, along the coast, and then, turning eastward about the borders of Samaria and Galilee, crosses the Jordan and proceeds through the desert to Damascus-that is the Egyptian road; while the other, which serves for travellers from Jerusalem, runs due north from that city and joins the other road at the entrance to Galilee. This latter was probably the road which St. Paul took. The distance which he had to traverse is not very great. One hundred and thirty-six miles separate Jerusalem from Damascus, a journey which is performed in five or six days by such a company as Saul had with him. We get a hint, too, of the manner in which he travelled. He rode probably on a horse or a mule, like modern travellers on the same road, as we gather from Act 9:4 compared with Act 22:7, passages which represent Saul and his companions as falling to the earth when the supernatural light flashed upon their astonished vision.

The exact spot where Saul was arrested in his mad career is a matter of some debate; some fix it close to the city of Damascus, half a mile or so from the south gate on the high road to Jerusalem. Dr. Porter, whose long residence at Damascus made him an authority on the locality, places the scene of the conversion at the village of Caucabe, ten miles away, where the traveller from Jerusalem gets his first glimpse of the towers and groves of Damascus. We are not anxious to determine this point. The great spiritual truth which is the centre and core of the whole matter remains, and that central truth is this, that it was-when he drew near to Damascus and the crowning act of violence seemed at hand, then the Lord put forth His power-as He so often still does just when men are about to commit some dire offence-arrested the persecutor, and then, amid the darkness of that abounding light, there rose upon the vision of the astonished Saul at Caucabe, “the place of the star,” that true Star of Bethlehem which never ceased its clear shining for him till he came unto the perfect day.

IV. Lastly we have the actual conversion of the Apostle and the circumstances of it. We have mention made in this connection of the light, the voice, and the conversation. These leading circumstances are described in exactly the same way in the three great accounts in the ninth, in the twenty-second, and in the twenty-sixth chapters. There are minute differences between them, but only such differences as are natural between the verbal descriptions given at different times by a truthful and vigorous speaker, who, conscious of honest purpose, did not stop to weigh his every word. All three accounts tell of the light; they all agree on that. St. Paul in his speeches at Jerusalem unhesitatingly declares that the light which he beheld was a supernatural one, above the brightness, the fierce, intolerable brightness of a Syrian sun at midday; and boldly asserts that the attendants and escort who were with him saw the light. Those who disbelieve in the supernatural reject, of course, this assertion, and resolve the light into a fainting fit brought upon Saul by the burning heat, or into a passing sirocco blast from the Arabian desert. But the sincere and humble believer may fairly ask, Could a fainting fit or a breath of hot wind change a man who had stood out against Stephens eloquence and Stephens death and the witnessed sufferings and patience displayed by the multitudes of men and women whom he had pursued unto the death? But it is not our purpose to discuss these questions in any controversial spirit. Time and space would fail to treat of them aright, specially as they have been fully discussed already in works like Lord Lyttelton on the conversion of St. Paul, wholly devoted to such aspects of these events. But, looking at them from a believers point of view, we can see good reasons why the supernatural light should have been granted. Next to the life and death and resurrection of our Lord, the conversion of St. Paul was the most important event the world, ever saw. Our Lord made to the fiery persecutor a special revelation of Himself in the mode of His existence in the unseen world, in the reality, truth, and fulness of His humanity, such as He never made to any other human being. The special character of the revelation shows the importance that Christ attached to the person and the personal character of him who was the object of that revelation. Just, then, as we maintain that there was a fitness when there was an Incarnation of God that miracles should attend it; so, too, when the greatest instrument and agent in propagating a knowledge of that Incarnation was to be converted, it was natural that a supernatural agency should have been employed. And then, when the devout mind surveys the records of Scripture, how similar we see St. Pauls conversion to have been to other great conversions. Moses is converted from mere worldly thoughts and pastoral labours on which his soul is bent, and sent back to tasks which he had abandoned for forty years, to the great work of freeing the people of God and leading them to the Land of Promise; and then a vision is granted, where light, a supernatural light, the light of the burning bush, is manifested. Isaiah and Daniel had visions granted to them when a great work was to be done and a great witness had to be borne, and supernatural light and glory played a great part in their cases. {See Exo 3:1-22, Isa 6:1-13, and Dan 10:1-21}

When the Lord was born in Bethlehem, and the revelation of the Incarnate God had to be made to humble faith and lowly piety, then the glory of the Lord, a light from out Gods secret temple, shone forth to lead the worshippers to Bethlehem. And so, too, in St. Pauls case; a worlds spiritual welfare was at stake, a crisis in the worlds spiritual history, a great turning-point in the Divine plan of salvation had arrived, and it was most fitting that the veil which shrouds the unseen from mortal gaze should be drawn back for a moment, and that not Saul alone but his attendants should stand astonished at the glory of the light above the brightness of the sun which accompanied Christs manifestation.

Then, again, we have the voice that was heard. Difficulties have been also raised in this direction. In the ninth chapter St. Luke states that the attendant escort “heard a voice”; in the twenty-second chapter St. Paul states “they that were with me beheld indeed the light, but they beard not the voice of Him that spake to me.” This inconsistency is, however, a mere surface one. Just as it was in the case of our Lord Himself reported in Joh 12:28-29, where the multitude heard a voice but understood not its meaning, some saying that it thundered, others that an angel had spoken, while Christ alone understood and interpreted it; so it was in St. Pauls case; the escort heard a noise, but the Apostle alone understood the sounds, and for him alone they formed articulate words, by him alone was heard the voice of Him that spake, And the cause of this is explained by St. Paul himself in Act 26:14, where he tells King Agrippa that the voice spake to him in the Hebrew tongue, the ancient Hebrew that is, which St. Paul as a learned rabbinical scholar could understand, but which conveyed no meaning to the members of the temple-police, the servants, and constables of the Sanhedrin who accompanied him. Many other questions have here been raised and difficulties without end propounded, because we are dealing with a region of mans nature and of Gods domain, wherewith we have but little acquaintance and to which the laws of ordinary philosophy do not apply. Was the voice which Paul heard, was the vision of Christ granted to him, subjective or objective? is, for instance, one of such idle queries. We know, indeed, that these terms, subjective and objective, have a meaning for ordinary life. Subjective in such a connection means that which has its origin, its rise, its existence wholly within mans soul; objective that which comes from without and has its origin outside mans nature. Objective, doubtless, St. Pauls revelation was in this sense. His revelation must have come from outside, or else how do we account for the conversion of the persecuting Sanhedrist, and that in a moment? He had withstood every other influence, and now he yields himself in a moment the lifelong willing captive of Christ when no human voice or argument or presence is near. But then, if asked, how did he gee Christ when he was blinded with the heavenly glory? how did he speak to Christ when even the escort stood speechless? we confess then that we are landed in a region of which we are totally ignorant and are merely striving to intrude into the things unseen. But who is there that will now assert that the human eye is the only organ by which man can see? that the human tongue is the only organ by which the spirit can converse? The investigations of modern psychology have taught men to be somewhat more modest than they were a generation or two ago, when man in his conceit thought that he had gained the very utmost limits of science and of knowledge. These investigations have led men to realise that there are vast tracts of an unknown country, mans spiritual and mental nature, yet to be explored, and even then there must always remain regions where no human student can ever venture and whence no traveller can ever return to tell the tale. But all these regions are subject to Gods absolute sway, and vain will be our efforts to determine the methods of His actions in a sphere of which we are well-nigh completely ignorant. For the Christian it will be sufficient to accept on the testimony of St. Paul, confirmed by Ananias, his earliest Christian teacher, that Jesus Christ was seen by him, and that a voice was heard for the first time in the silence Of his soul which never ceased to speak until the things of time and sense were exchanged for the full fruition of Christs glorious presence.

And then, lastly, we have the conversation held with the trembling penitent. St. Lukes account of it in the ninth chapter is much briefer than St. Pauls own fuller statement in the twenty-sixth chapter, and much of it will most naturally come under our notice at a subsequent period. Here, however, we note the expressive fact that the very name by which the future apostle was addressed by the Lord was Hebrew: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me.” It is a point that our English translation cannot bring out, no matter how accurate. In the narrative, hitherto the name used has been the Greek form, and he has been regularly called . But now the Lord appeals to the very foundations of his religious life, and throws him back upon the thought and manifestation of God as revealed of old time to His greatest leader and champion under the old covenant, to Moses in the bush; and so Christ uses not his Greek name but the Hebrew, , . Then we have St. Pauls query, “Who art Thou, Lord?” coupled with our Lords reply, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest,” or, as St. Paul himself puts it in Act 22:8, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.” Ancient expositors have Well noted the import of this language. Saul asks who is speaking to him, and the answer is not, The Eternal Word who is from everlasting, the Son of the Infinite One who ruleth in the heavens. Saul would have acknowledged at once that his efforts were not aimed at Him. But the speaker cuts right across the line of Sauls prejudices and feelings, for He says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth,” whom you hate so intensely and against whom all your efforts are aimed, emphasising those points against which his Pharisaic prejudices must have most of all revolted. As an ancient English commentator who lived more than a thousand years ago, treating of this passage, remarks with profound spiritual insight, Saul is called in these words to view the depths of Christs humiliation that he may lay aside the scales of his own spiritual pride. And then finally we have Christ identifying Himself with His people, and echoing for us from heaven the language and teaching He had used upon earth. “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest are words embodying exactly the same teaching as the solemn language in the parable of the Judgment scene contained in Mat 25:31-46 : “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me.” Christ and His people are evermore one; their trials are His trials, their sorrows are His sorrows, their strength is His strength. What marvellous power to sustain the soul, to confirm the weakness, to support and quicken the fainting courage of Christs people, we find in this expression, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”! They enable us to understand the undaunted spirit which henceforth animated the new convert, and declare the secret spring of those triumphant expressions, “In all these things we are more than conquerors,” “Thanks be to God which giveth, us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ in the supra-sensuous world and we in the world of time are eternally one, what matter the changes arid chances of earth, the persecutions and trials of time? They may inflict upon us a little temporary inconvenience, but they are all shared by One whose love makes them His own and whose grace amply sustains us beneath their burden. Christs people faint not therefore, for they are looking not at the things seen, which are temporal, but at the things unseen, which are eternal.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary